It’s officially winter, finally. I know that I’m in Southern California which has a very mild winter, but it does get chilly here too, even though our only snow is on the top of the mountains. So I’m craving some hot soup.
After leaving my noodles series for quite a while, like the whole quarter of this year, I think this might be an appropriate time to continue the series. Thai people eat many different kinds of chicken noodles, starting from clear broth to a dark-colored broth, to TomYum broth and even curry broth like Khao Soi.
In the winter I just want plain clear broth. Do you remember my last episode of Thai noodles, Guay Tiew Moo? The soup for these chicken noodles will be easier than that one, believe it or not. Also this noodle version is not going to have as many items as Guay Tiew Moo.
So this time you won’t need to recruit as many diners as when you were making the full-spread pork noodles; it’s okay to make these chicken noodles for just two people for a cozy night in. So if you haven’t done so since the end of the Guay Tiew Moo party, it’s time to return the neighbor’s kids that you had borrowed. (Or, even better, return your own brats to them and keep theirs!)
Let’s start then.
Ingredients for the broth (for two):
Chicken breast 1 piece
Chicken drumstick 2 pieces
Cilantro root 1 root
Garlic 4 cloves
White peppercorn 1 tablespoon
Onion 1 bulb (This is just to make the soup taste sweet naturally and add flavor. You can also use daikon root)
(Optional) Ginger root 5 slices
(Optional) Goji berries 1 tablespoon
(Optional) Sweet radish or diakon root, preserved 1 tablespoon
Salt 1 teaspooon
Crystal sugar 3 pieces, or about a teaspoon
Water 8 – 10 cups
Ingredients for the noodles:
Bean sprouts, about 2-3 cups
Noodles of your choice, as much or as little as you want
Accompaniments: (If you don’t understand these please go back and read the Episode II Everything Else Beyond Noodles. There will be an explanation and pictures.
Fried garlic in oil (If you don’t know how to make this, look in Episode II)
Cilantro and green onion, chopped up
Tung Chai
Fish sauce
Granulated sugar
Limes, cut in wedges (shown in this post how to cut a lime)
Cracked roasted peanuts (I use a food processor or coffee grinder to crush them, but you can use a mortar)
Dried red chili flakes
Red jalapeño in vinegar
White pepper
Method:
1) Put water in the pot and add the cilantro root, smashed garlic, peppercorns and onion (cut in quarters), and bring to a boil over the high heat.
2) Add the chicken breast and drumsticks to the pot, lowering the heat to medium. If some foam appears on the top, scoop it out. Boil the chicken breast until done, using a fork to pierce through the breast to see the level of doneness.
3) Take only the breast part out of the pot and let it cool.
Then use a fork to shred the meat.
Leave the drumsticks in the pot and continue to simmer so the meat is tender and will fall off the bones.
4) Boil another pot of water to cook the vegetables and noodles. Wait until the water reaches a boil, then cook the bean sprouts separately, usually less than a minute,
remove, put the bean sprouts in the bowl.
and then do the noodles.
5) For salad: (Guay Tiew Gai Hang) Toss the noodles with the fried garlic oil right away to prevent them from sticking to each other.
Warm the shredded chicken up in the soup pot that is still simmering,
Then add them to the bowl.
Add the drumstick and accompaniments.
For soup: (Guay Tiew Gai Nam) After adding the shredded chicken and the drumstick, then add the soup to an individual serving bowl. Add the accompaniments.
For a low carb option: (Guay Tiew Gai Gao Lao) Don’t bother with the noodles, just use more bean sprouts. Add the shredded chicken, the chicken drumstick (only if you have some left) and the accompaniments. You can have the Gao Lao style (no noodles) with or without the broth.
This is the prequel to Thanksgiving We are starting our poultry executions early, so the chicken won’t have a chance to tell the turkey to flee!
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