My #1 Noodles Of All Time – Boat Noodles!

Boat Noodles ก๋วยเตี๋ยวเรือ is an iconic noodle soup of Thailand and a culinary experience you should not miss! Not going to Thailand any time soon? Here’s a recipe you can make at home!

RECIPE & BLOG POST: https://hot-thai-kitchen.com/boat-noodles/
SUPPORT THE SHOW & GET BONUS RECIPES: https://www.patreon.com/pailinskitchen
MY COOKBOOKS: https://hot-thai-kitchen.com/htk-cookbook/
MY KITCHEN TOOLS & INGREDIENTS: https://kit.co/hotthaikitchen

PHOTO CREDITS
Pics of boat noodle vendors: https://pantip.com/topic/36162601
Pic of boat noodle bowls: https://pantip.com/topic/41701199

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

I want to cry it’s so good it’s so
good so ATA welcome to hot Thai Kitchen
so one of the most iconic dishes of
Thailand is boat noodles or gu now Thai
people love boat noodles and every time
I have one I am amazed by the amount of
incredible flavors that are packed into
a tiny little bowl but here in North
America unless you live in a big city it
is not easy to find and even if you can
find it it’s not always what it’s
supposed to be so today I want to show
you how to make boat noodles that will
taste just like what you can get in
Thailand it is a complex dish with a lot
of ingredients which is why it’s so good
but it is not hard it just takes time so
it makes a great weekend project and it
keeps well so you can even make it on
the weekend and have it throughout the
week all right let’s start with the
heart of qua the
broth I’ve got some pork neck bones here
and I like neck bones because it has a
lot of meat on it which we will eat
later but other kinds of phones or beef
bones also work cover it with water and
bring to a simmer and then let it simmer
gently for about 30 minutes Meanwhile
we’re going to prep our aromatics I’ve
got crushed cinnamon stick stares
coriander seeds ground white pepper
galangal crushed cilantro roots or you
can use stems if you like onion crushed
garlic daon and a pandan Leaf which is
optional I’m going to toast my cinnamon
star knes and coriander seeds in a dry
Skillet on medium high heat until
they’re slightly
charred let them cool a bit and then put
them in a soup infusion B like this one
or cheesecloth then I’m going to add the
galangal slices and cilantro roots in
here as
well back to the broth which should now
be very scummy so we’re going to skim it
all
off once it’s clean in goes our spice
bag and the rest of our aromatics the
pandan Leaf I’m going to fold in half
and then tie into a knot this will
bruise and release the aroma and it’ll
also help it fit into the pot
now the seasonings I’m going to add soy
sauce Golden Mountain sauce or Maggie
seasoning Tao which is Thai fermented
soybean paste you can use miso
instead black soy sauce or dark soy
sauce for the color fish sauce white
vinegar and some rock sugar which is
traditional but granulated sugar will be
just fine and now we just let that
simmer gently for another hour and 15
minutes and if the bones become exposed
just top it up with water just until the
bones are completely submerged while
that’s simmering let’s talk noodles when
you go to Thailand and Order boat
noodles most vendors are going to offer
you several noodle options including
rice vermicelli or what we call senme
small size rice noodles or
SLE won noodles or egg noodles or bat me
fresh wide rice noodles or
sen glass noodles or Wen and even
sometimes Mama noodles Mama being
Thailand’s favorite brand of instant
noodles and you can use any of these
there’s no right there’s no wrong if
you’re going to use uh the dried noodles
they need to be soaked in room temp
water until pliable before using and
I’ll include the different timing for
different sizes in the block Poe the
fresh noodles and instant noodles can
all be cooked directly before serving
and today I’m going to use my favorite
and I think also the most popular which
is SLE
all right let’s move on to the protein
I’m going to make some marinated pork by
thinly slicing some pork shoulder which
is nice and fatty and flavorful but you
can use a tender cut of beef instead as
well I’m going to marinate it simply
with soy sauce and a little bit of sugar
and give that a good mix it just needs
10 to 15 minutes so this will be ready
when you are my favorite protein however
is these Asian style meatballs which you
can buy at any Asian grocery store pork
or beef will work whatever you prefer
because these are huge I’m just cutting
them down into bite-sized pieces if
yours are small you don’t have to do
anything with them you can make these
from scratch but we have enough to do
already and the vendors in Thailand buy
them as well let’s move on to toppings
and condiments you are going to need
bean sprouts water spinach or regular
spinach cilantro and or green onions
thaai basil which is optional and the
most important condiment for boat
noodles chili vinegar which I cheat by
mixing some sambal Ole with white
vinegar and it totally does the trick
but I’ll include the from scratch recipe
on the blog post as well now I’m going
to tell you about the secret ingredient
that makes this dish blood now before
you get squeamish let me assure you that
this will not taste or smell like blood
you probably wouldn’t know it was there
if I didn’t tell you and in fact when I
was a kid I spent years never knowing
that there was blood in boat noodles
until I finally saw somebody make it the
blood will add that magical richness
that junqua that sets boat noodles apart
from all the other noodle soups it
really makes a difference you don’t have
to add it but I am telling you that it
is not as good without it and I’ll just
leave it there a quick travel tip when
you’re in Thailand boat noos with blood
is
called is the part that refers to the
blood and that is the default for most
places
so if you don’t want blood you will have
to specify you have to say my and then
they won’t add it would you be sad but
you do you and by the way namto means
waterfall and in the blog post I’ll
include a story about why that term is
used you can buy liquid blood usually
Frozen at some Asian grocery stores but
if you have a nice European butcher
check with them cuz sometimes they have
it for black pudding beef blood pork
blood you can use both of them but do
not confuse this with cooked blood which
is going to be a soft block with a
texture similar to tofu we cannot use
that for this purpose if you can’t find
it I’ve heard some people using coconut
milk instead to thicken the broth
obviously not the same but if you can’t
find it then that’s what you do all
right let’s finish up our broth once the
broth is done simmering I’m going to
remove the spice bag and then remove all
the vegetables as well the onions and
garlic are going to be kind of dissolved
by now but if they’re still in pieces
you can eat them the daon you definitely
want to keep an eat they are super super
tasty remove the bones and set that
aside for now we’re going to pick the
meat off of them later okay now we need
to taste the broth and you want it to be
a little too strong right now because
it’ll get diluted by the noodles so you
can add more salt or sugar as needed
here next we’re going to cook our
marinated pork right in this broth so
I’m putting it inside the skimmer and
then stir it around so the broth can be
flavored with all the pork juices this
will take less than a minute and it
should be done don’t overcook it then
we’re going to add the meatballs to the
broth they’re already cooked so all they
need to do is heat through and just hang
out cover it set it aside for now until
we’re ready to eat finally I’m going to
pick off all of this tender flavorful
meat from the pork bones and this is not
something you would get from a street
vendor so consider this the prize for
all of your efforts and it is so so good
and that’s it it’s assembly time all
right I got all my things and I feel
like a street vendor so fun fact in
Thailand when you buy boat noodles
they’re going to come in these teeny
tiny snack siiz bowls this is because
originally when they were actually sold
on boats passing around a big bowl full
of hot soup on a wobbly boat was not
practical so they use these tiny bowls
and they fill it barely halfway the
broth is super strong and flavorful so
you don’t need to put a lot and so most
people will end up eating anywhere
between three to five bowls each
sometimes even more but if someone else
is cooking five bowls per person is no
problem if I’m cooking I am not making
five bowls per person thank you very
much so we are going to make them full
size okay so I’ve got a pot of blanching
water here we’re going to cook our
noodles and vegetables tip use your
biggest pot fill up the water a lot if
you don’t have a lot of water after your
first batch the water will cool down so
so much that it’ll take you a long time
to cook the following batches I’ve got
my noodles soaked and ready to go in a
bowl and I do suggest separating your
noodles while it’s still raw and not
just cooking all the portions in one pot
because it is a pain to separate cooked
hot noodles into portions but it’s very
easy to separate soaked noodles all
right it is now boiling by the way a
noodle strainer like this is super handy
if you’re going to eat like noodle soups
with any frequency at all you can find
it at many many Asian grocery stores if
you don’t have it a meadow sift like
this is fine as long as it’s you can
submerge it into your pot a lot of times
these are a bit too wide okay noodles
into the noodle
strainer along with your bean
sprouts and
the greens my water spinach and then
into here for 5 seconds
1 2 3 4 5 slow count okay not big count
and then up Shake It
Off and into the bowl yeah so a quick
tip you’ll notice that my water has now
stopped boiling if your water is no
longer boiling for your second batch you
need to extend the time that it’s in the
water so your second batch might have to
be 10 minut 10 seconds 15 seconds
now it’s boiling again so if I were to
do my second batch now it can just be 5
seconds but sometimes your pot is
smaller or whatever so just use your
judgment if in doubt check the texture
of the noodles it should be just a
little bit chewier because we’re going
to put hot broth on it but it shouldn’t
taste totally undercooked all right
we’re going to do a pot Switcheroo be
right back this is where the magic
happens I’ve got my broth here it is
boiling and I’m going to pour the blood
while stirring it’s very important cuz
the blood’s going to cook instantly and
if you don’t it’ll just cook into big
clumps which you don’t want to have
happen right there we
go and in Thailand the blood is added to
orderers so it always goes in at the
last minute and you can see how much
that broth just becomes thick and Rich M
and this is like yes you see that broth
thickness and you
know this is boat noodles
rinse everything out perfect all right
now all we have to
do
is broth over
noodles and by the way the meatballs
don’t overcook so they can hang out in
there as long as you need them
tooo salivating all our extra protein so
the sliced
pork our tender braced pork M I’m most
excited about this some garnishes some
chopped
cilantro green onions Thai Basil usually
comes on the table on the side in most
boat noodle restaurants but you know if
you’re at home you can just stick them
right in you can tear up the big ones if
you
like put them in there and then yes
there’s one more ingredient that I
didn’t tell you about cuz I didn’t want
to overwhelm you but you can also add
fried garlic and garlic oil which is
typical of most high noodle soups um for
Bo noodles I find it less important
because the flavor of the broth is so
strong that it doesn’t make as big of a
difference but for certain noodles with
lighter broths it really makes a big
difference but I always have this on
hand I’ll include a recipe of how to
make it it’s not hard and that is it
both noodles let’s eat and just when you
thought there couldn’t possibly be any
more ingredients there are more
ingredients except these are more like
tableside condiments not the end of the
world if you don’t have them crispy pork
rind is classic and you just add them to
the broth and they’ll soften slightly in
the broth or just eat it on the side
goes so well together chili flakes if
you want it extra spicy which I feel
like boat noodles if it’s not spicy it’s
not very good and then chili vinegar
that we made earlier now I personally
Really Love Boat noodles with a good
vinegary Zing but that is a two taste so
not the end of the world if you don’t
end up adding any but I recommend you do
all right here’s the moment we’re
waiting for mix everything together it
smells like Thailand
I want to cry it’s so good it’s so
good I can just drink the broth you
don’t need anything
else life is good
I cannot explain to you how good this is
and if you were to go to Thailand and
you ask me what is like a must half dish
in Thailand I would say boat noodles
like you know I’ve said I’ve said many
things our must haves in Thailand but if
it really comes down to it I would say
boat noodles for a couple reasons one it
is very hard to find here very really
hard to find a good one here and two
it’s not a quick and easy dish right but
if you’re not going to Thailand anytime
soon this is an experience that I think
you should have make a weekend project
out of it and you will be blown away
there are many things that you can do in
advance so that the whole the day of
isn’t such a big production and I will
include all of those tips in the blog
post and that is it as always the recipe
will be on hotti kitchen.com a special
thanks to all of our patreon members who
help support the show and if you want to
know what that’s all about how you can
get bonus recipes and get in direct
contact with me check out the link in
the description below thank you as
always for watching and I will see you
next time so