Never Cook Mushy, Broken Rice Noodles Again!

Rice noodles 101! If you’ve struggled with cooking perfect rice noodles, or been confused by all the options at the Asian grocery store, this video will answer all of your questions, and probably more!

Read the Blog Post: https://hot-thai-kitchen.com/rice-noodles-101/

RELATED VIDEOS:
How Rice Noodles Are Made Doc: https://youtu.be/4pLceTpeUK8
Pad See Ew Recipe: https://youtu.be/Ohy1DELF4is
Pad Thai in 5 Minutes: https://youtu.be/F86GfZIph8o
Auntie’s Pho: https://youtu.be/6FAUmCnoinI
Kanom Jeen Namya (Rice Noodles with Curry Sauce): https://youtu.be/BaOzMgmPAkQ
Mackerel Lettuce Wrap: https://youtu.be/pvOmjjYdSnw

SUPPORT THE SHOW & WATCH AD-FREE: https://www.patreon.com/pailinskitchen
MY COOKBOOKS: https://hot-thai-kitchen.com/htk-cookbook/
MY KITCHEN TOOLS & INGREDIENTS: https://kit.co/hotthaikitchen

CONNECT WITH ME!
https://facebook.com/HotThaiKitchen
https://instagram.com/HotThaiKitchen
Tweets by HotThaiKitchen

—————-

About Pai:

Pailin “Pai” Chongchitnant is the author of the Hot Thai Kitchen cookbook, co-host of a Canadian TV series One World Kitchen on Gusto TV, and creator and host of the YouTube channel Pailin’s Kitchen.

Pai was born and raised in southern Thailand where she spent much of her “playtime” in the kitchen. She traveled to Canada to study Nutritional Sciences at the University of British Columbia, and was later trained as a chef at Le Cordon Bleu culinary school in San Francisco.

After working in both Western and Thai professional kitchens, she decided that her passion really lies in educating and empowering others to cook at home via YouTube videos, her cookbook, and cooking classes. She currently lives in Vancouver, and goes to Thailand every year to visit her family. Visit her at http://hot-thai-kitchen.com
00:00 Introduction
00:45 What ARE rice noodles anyway?
01:28 Different types of rice noodles
02:36 The right noodle for the job.
03:53 #1 Mistake people make in cooking rice noodles
05:31 How to properly cook dry rice noodles
08:45 Types of FRESH rice noodles
10:44 How to cook fresh rice noodles without breaking them
14:17 Vietnamese rice noodles

Welcome to hot Thai Kitchen so maybe this has happened to you you order Pattaya you try to make it but the noodles end up mushy and clumpy or maybe it’s Patsy EU with fresh rice noodles but the noodles end up broken into little bits or you go to an Asian

Grocery store you look at all the rice noodle options and your eyes glaze over because you have no idea which to choose for which dish or how to cook them properly well in this video I’m going to answer those questions and more I’ll give you everything you need to know

About rice noodles all the different kinds of their quirks and how to prepare them so that you will have perfectly cooked noodles every time let’s get started first what exactly are rice noodles well the dried rice noodles are actually not all that different from each other in a sense that they’re all

Made from ground up rice with nothing else no seasoning added and then they’re just cut or extruded in different shapes now I actually have a really cool video where I give you a tour of a rice noodle factory in Thailand I’ll link to below you gotta check it out fresh rice

Noodles however are a little different they usually have other starches mixed in and usually some preservatives because rice flour alone would make these a little too delicate now unlike wheat based noodles rice noodles are not chewy they’re quite tender which also makes them trickier to work with because

They can go from cooked to overcooked very quickly now let’s go through all the different types of dried rice noodles on the smallest end of the scale We’ve Got Rice vermicelli which is send me in Thai now this is not to be confused with Vietnamese rice vermicelli

Which is much bigger and we’ll talk about that at the end next up we have size small which in Thai is called sen Lake and it is my preference for all kinds of noodle soups such as fur or Thai Boat noodles then we’ve got the medium size which is the most popular

Size for noodle stir fries like Pad Thai and in fact in Thailand we call this senpatay then we’ve got this large size which is actually not a size that I see in Thailand some people like to use it for Pad Thai but I do wonder if it’s an

Export only size because people like things to be bigger here then we’ve got this extra large size which doesn’t actually exist in Thailand because these are meant to be a substitute for these fresh wide rice noodles that are so popular in patsyu and Drunken Noodles but these can be hard to find because

They’re highly perishable so these are the Shelf stable substitute now let’s talk the best noodles for the job for noodle soups you want to go small anything from the vermicelli up until medium size is fine and here’s why as I mentioned these rice noodles have no flavor whatsoever there’s no seasoning

No salt in it so the more surface area you have for the broth to cling to the more flavorful that mouthful becomes if you go too large each mouthful is just gonna feel like a lot of noodles and not enough flavor fresh noodles are the exception to the rule because fresh

Noodles are more delicate they’re not quite as dense so these can work if they are not made too thick which will vary from Brand to Brand in Thailand we actually have two types of these fresh noodles One For Soup which is thinner and more delicate for reasons we talked

About and then one for stir fries which are made to be thicker and sturdier so they don’t break quite as easily when you stir fry them in the wok most of us in North America don’t got any choice so what you get may or may not work in

Soups you just gotta try the good news is anything can work for stir fry so it really comes down to your preference for the texture but a lot of people have problems because if you don’t know how to prepare them they come out soggy mushy broken into bits and here’s why

And how to avoid it the number one reason your noodle stir fries are a mess is because you are cooking them before you are cooking them here’s what I mean some people boil these and cook them to Perfection and then they put those cooked noodles into the wok and then you

Add sauce which has liquid and then the meat has liquid the vegetables give off liquid and so if the noodles go in already fully cooked then it’s no surprise that they overcook once all the extra liquid has been added right this is not an issue with egg noodles because

They do not overcook nearly as quickly in fact when stir-frying with egg noodles you want them fully cooked before going into the pan because they’re not going to cook with just the liquid from the sauce and the veggies and yes I know that the package instructions tell you to boil these but

Here’s a pro tip that will be useful for the rest of your life never trust the package instruction the package instructions never trust package instructions on Asian products okay I’m not saying they’re all wrong I’m just saying you never know which one is correct let me prove my point so on

The small size noodles it says to boil the noodles for six to eight minutes what does the medium size say what do you know boil the noodles for six to eight minutes what about the large one boil the noodles for six to eight minutes how is it possible that all these

Different sizes of noodles take exactly the same amount of time to cook right what you need to do instead is to Simply soak them until they’re fully rehydrated and then let them cook in the pan here’s how to properly soak them the best practice is to use room temperature

Water rice vermicelli will take 5 to 15 minutes depending on the brand small size about 20 to 30 minutes medium size will take 50 to 60 Minutes large size takes 90 minutes to two hours and the extra large size is a bit of an exception because they are supposed to

Be a substitute for these fresh noodles and therefore what I do is I use hot off the boil water I soak them for 15 minutes you want to be storing them quite often in the beginning to prevent them from sticking to each other and then drain and rinse under cold water

And they’re going to end up partially cooked by that point the timing is just a guy line different brands will vary a little bit here are some noodles that have been soaked and ready to go into the pan and the reason that we want to soak them

Rather than boil them like spaghetti is because as I said rice noodles overcook very easily so by soaking them you allow them to evenly hydrate all throughout and then the heat from the pan will cook them using the water that’s already in the noodles the result is even cooking

And a very low chance of overcooking them so the important question is how do you know when the noodles have soaked enough well all you have to do is pick up the noodles and they should droop completely not resisting gravity at all if they’re kind of trying to hold on to

The original shape they are not ready these are now ready to go into the wok or a pan and they’ll usually need a little bit of extra liquid to help them finish cooking how much liquid depends on a lot of factor including how much liquid is already in the sauce how much

Are you crowding the pan how much meat and vegetables and all that stuff so it’s best to just follow a trusted recipe before you start winging it and if you are going to wing it a little water at a time and then taste and then add more water only if needed this is

How you prevent soggy noodles but what if you forget to soak the noodles which sometimes happens and that’s why I have an emergency soaking solution for you you can use hot off the boil water and soak the large size for four minutes medium size of three and small size for

Two and then drain them immediately under cold water it’s not ideal but it’ll work in the pinch and I would not risk this method with the rice vermicelli but these don’t take long anyway room temp is my default it because it’s so hard to to over soak

These at room temp that you don’t even have to set a timer just check on them every once in a while if you are using these for Soups follow the exact same soaking instructions but you want to blanch them in boiling water in a metal sieve or noodle strainer so that you can

Remove them from the water quickly rice vermicelli will take literally three seconds small size will take five seconds and the medium size 8 seconds when you cook noodles for soup you want them to come out slightly under done because remember you’re going to pour hot boiling soup over them so they’re

Going to continue to cook in the bowl and again timing will vary slightly between Brands now let’s talk fresh rice noodles fresh white rice noodles like what you see in patsyu or Drunken Noodles pad chemo these are also called whole fun noodles and you can find them

At many Asian grocery stores in a pack like this usually next to all the tofu now this is a fresh highly perishable product so usually these are made low locally which means what you get from City to City even Store the store is going to vary significantly in terms of

Width and thickness and and even the actual texture of the noodles what I can get here is actually not ideal I find it a little too skinny a little too thin too delicate but better than nothing I guess these are not to be confused with these rice noodle rolls which look very

Similar but these are actually meant to be eaten as is with some sauce you might have had these at dim sum restaurants and I want to mention this because some people have gotten confused and thought that you’re supposed to take these unroll them and then cut them into

Noodles which in theory you can but trust me it does not work well because these are actually thinner than these noodles and it’s it just doesn’t work just trust me on this because this is not confusing enough we’re going to introduce yet another kind of fresh rice noodles now this is

Basically an equivalent of the pre-soaked dried rice noodles okay this is what restaurants would use for their Pad Thai this is what we use in Thailand because it’s convenient you can just throw this into the pan you don’t need to soak it but it’s not shelf stable

Right and if you have access to this you will treat this in the same way as pre-soaked noodles so you can throw this directly into the pan for stir fries with a little bit extra extra water or you blanch them quickly in boiling water for Soups here’s a million dollar

Question how do you cook these delicate fresh rice noodles without turning them into broken little bits in the pan well here’s what you do you want to peel apart the noodles before cooking but if they’re cold and stuck together like this you want to heat them up first so

Separate them into chunks best you can and spread them out on a plate microwave them for about a minute take them out and see if you can separate them into even smaller chunks and sort of rearrange them for even Heating microwave them again for another minute and repeat this until the noodles are

Soft enough to be individually peeled apart and no there is no quick way of doing this so I’m going to give you a quick demo of how to stir fry these rice noodles without turning them into bits first choice of utensils matters wooden ones are better because they are less sharp

These walk metal spatula are like blades to the Noodle so you’re going to be more prone to accidentally chopping the noodles two you want your pan to be either a well-seasoned Wok or a non-stick surface because these noodles love to stick and if you’re having to scrape them off the pan then you’re

Definitely going to break the noodles now I’m going to turn my pan on for the next tips so I am making patsyu of course I’ve got my garlic my eggs and my vegetables already in and this is when you would add the noodles so the noodles go in and also the sauce

And the sugar now tip number three once the noodles are in you want to push or flip the noodles right push or flip rather than just randomly stirring them because if you’re just randomly stirring there’s a chance you’re gonna chop the noodles so pay attention to the movement that you’re

Using and if at all possible if you have the skills toss avoid the utensils altogether and then give them a flip give them a toss much easier than in a lighter pan finally this is one portion of patsyu and then in my recipe I always tell

People cook one portion at a time and the reason is because if you have a lot of noodles you’re going to have to stir more which then risks cutting the noodles and also you’re going to trap a lot of moisture and remember these noodles are fully cooked any excess

Moisture will cause them to overcook and swell okay so these are the five tips that will help you not end up with broken bits and also if you don’t crowd the pan you will get nice noodle charring like this and finally some brands of noodles are just more delicate than others if

You have tried everything and you’re still struggling if you’ve got options maybe seek out another brand and also the dried noodles the extra large shelf stable version those are much less likely to break they don’t taste as good they don’t have as good of a texture but

If this is just not working for you maybe give those a try yeah see and now we’ve got beautiful noodles that still look like noodles one more thing and then I’m done I promise I want to talk about Vietnamese rice noodles which often add to the confusion when people are shopping

Vietnamese rice vermicelli are not the same as Thai rice vermicelli so you need to check the country of origin before you buy Vietnamese ones are much thicker round noodles than you often see in the Vietnamese fresh spring rolls and the way you cook these is you cook them like

Pasta you boil them in water and then you drain them dunk them into cold water to stop the cooking and then rinse off excess starch and then there are a few things you can do with them you can make a noodle salad you can pour sauce over

It like we do in Thailand like in my Canon yeah recipe you can check that out or you can make wraps like the fresh spring rolls or I make a macro lettuce wrap with them it’s really good but generally these do not get cooked any further meaning you don’t throw this

Into a wok and make a stir fry probably because they’re clumpy and super hard to stir fry with it’s just not going to turn out well finally these Vietnamese tapioca sticks which look almost exactly like the Thai medium sized noodles except they actually have rice flour and

Tapioca starch mixed in they’re made for a specific kind of Vietnamese rice noodles and the tapioca gives the noodles a clear look and also a chewier texture you do prep them in the same way but the texture is different so if you want to try it out go ahead just know that these

Are not the same and that is it I’m gonna plug my mini documentary one more time if you want to see how rice noodles are made in a factory in Thailand check out that video I’ll link in the comments below and if you have any questions that

Somehow I missed in this video please leave them in the question in the comments as well a special thanks to all of our patreon members who help support the show if you want to know what that’s all about how to get direct access to me and watch my videos ad free check out

The link in the description below thank you as always for watching and I will see you next time thank you