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Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Street Food Tom Yum Noodle Soup With Crispy Wontons

8.3.10



I hope everyone had a great weekend. Whether it was a relaxing or wild, it's all good! Mine was c-r-a-z-y. I was at a friend's birthday party on Friday night and at a friend's Bachelorette party on Saturday night. I didn't come home until Sunday afternoon! It was quite a weekend. Okay, enough of my story. Who cares anyway?! (smile)

Tom yum soup or noodle soup is some of the most popular Thai dishes. However, what you've seen at most Thai restaurants isn't what I'm craving. I'm craving for a nutty, savory, and sour street food noodle. As you could guess, what is served at a Thai restaurant in the United States nowadays isn't quite what local Thai people consume. I love street food and the night market. Any time I get to travel outside the States, I will have to find my way to those street vendors. That's how you know what the "real" food local peeps eat is. Not all of them are common dishes for locals, but at least you experience something you MUST do in that country.

Back to my Tom yum noodles, it can be found at a not-fancy restaurant in Bangkok. Places that are not easy to find and in an alley somehow taste better than an easy-to-find ones. I'm not sure if it's because of the "mystery" of it adding an adventurous feeling and you assume it tastes better? Like the secret menu at In-N-Out Burgers or Jamba juice?

I would recommend, if you have a local friend, to use them and have them take you to a place that sells this. You will experience what Tom Yum Noodles are supposed to be!

Rice noodles

The noodles vary. Some use egg noodles while some use rice noodles. It doesn't matter because what matters is the soup. It's super easy to make. To make Thai food, you need to have lime, fish sauce, and sugar on hand. We use those 3 ingredients in almost every dish. For the toppings, you can add from deep fried fish skin to deep fried wonton. Anything deep fried would work - and roasted peanuts! They make it individually and by order.


Street Food Tom Yum Noodle Soup
Yield: 2 ( feel free to double for the number of guests you have)

Ingredients for pork balls

1/4 lb ground pork
2 tsp fish sauce
1 tsp sugar
1/2 garlic clove, minced
Black pepper


Directions:
  • Mix all the ingredients. Highly recommend using hands to mix to get the best result :)
Ingredients for pork wontons

6-8 Wonton wrappers
Pork mixture (above)
Vegetable or canoli oil for deep frying

You can make it bigger than this one



Directions:
  • Form pork mixture to a ball and place in a middle of a wrapper.
  • Fold into triangle and seal it with water (see photos)
  • Heat up oil in a pan or small sauce pan to 350 F. Deep fry them until golden brown.
This is what I did when I had leftover pork mixture and wonton wrappers -Snacking up!


Ingredients for the soup for 2

1 cube Knors Bouillon - pork flavor
2 cup2 water
2 cups chicken stock
2 inch daikon, julience
1 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp black pepper

Ingredients for Tom Yum soup for 2

4 tsp fish sauce, divided
2 tsp chili in oil or more if you like more spicy, divided
6 tsp sugar, divided
2 tbs lime juice or more to taste, divided
1 tbs chopped roasted peanuts, divided
1/2 cup bean sprouts, divided
6 stems Choysum (Chinese flowering cabbage), divided - Optional
1 lime wedges for garnish
1 tsp chopped peanuts, divided for garnish
1/2 lb rice noodles (see photo above), divided

Chili in Oil




Directions:
  • Heat up a medium saucepan and bring it to boil. Add Knors cube and let it sit until it dissolves.
  • Add chicken stock and daikon, and bring to boil.
  • Use wet spoon to scoop ground pork mixture and drop it to a pot one at a time, and add fish cake balls if used. When it's cooked, it will float to the top.
  • In the meantime, add fish sauce, lime juice, sugar, chili paste, and peanuts in each bowl.
  • Drop bean sprouts and choysum (if using) in a pot. For bean sprouts, cook for a few mins until they're cooked but still crisp. For choysum, cook longer until cooked through.
  • Place cooked bean sprouts, choy sum, and daikon on top of seasonings (see photo)
  • Use a slotted spoon to scoop out cooked ground pork balls and fish cake. Place them into each bowl.
  • Cook rice noodles in the same pot for about 5 mins or follow the package's instruction.
  • After it's cooked, divide them in each bowl.
  • Bring the stock to a boil again and pour over a prepared bowl.
  • Garnish with peanuts and a lime wedge
  • When you eat, mix well so that the seasonings at the bottom will mix with noodles and the soup
  • Enjoy!
Note: If you're zero tolerance of spicyness, this isn't an ideal for you. You could leave out a chili in oil but then it wouldn't become a Tom Yum noodle soup.












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31 comments:

Magic of Spice said...

Such perfect won tons...I love them:) The noodle dish is just wonderful. Always great flavors with everything you do:)

sara826 said...

That looks delicious! The bowls are pretty too!

FOODESSA said...

Tanantha...I so take to this type of meal. So many tantalizing flavours and aromas. You seem to have your whole act togehter when preparing this Thai specialty.
I've made something similar in the past...and quite frankly...I figured I should best leave it to specialists to prepare it for me at a great Thai restaurant we have nearby. Hey...I can't always be in my kitchen...right?!?

Have a fabulous week,
Claudia

Chef Dennis Littley said...

That soup looks wonderful!!! so fresh and tasty! I have a case of wonton wrappers in my freezer at school, I wanted to teach my girls to make them(have to learn myself first), your fried ones look delicious, I never thought of doing that! I just love reading your posts!

Unknown said...

A good Thai noodle soup is one of the best things you can have so I agree it's important to make it the right way with all the flavors, textures and spices just the way you like. Tanantha I think you've created the perfect bowl of yummy-ness:-)

Roxan said...

Tanantha, YUM! Please please invite me over for dinner soon. It's been really cold down here so i could totally go for some tom yum soup!

Lazaro Cooks said...

T,

We care about all your comings and goings!

Love the soup. Wonderful flavor profile and great noodles. Awesome photos and instruction. The crispy wontons provide the perfect compliment.

Unknown said...

Yum Yum noodles! Can I get an order to go?

Weekend Food Projects said...

You fried the wontons perfectly and I love the pictures. Yummy!

Monet said...

It sounds like you had a fun and busy weekend...always the best! I loved this bowl of noodle soup and especially those crispy fried wontons. They look so good...I could probably be happy just eating a plate of those. Thanks for sharing, friend!

Carla said...

I love Tom Yum soup even more when it has noodles.... delicious!

Magdalena said...

You know, Tanatha, I love Tom Yum but I am not a great fun of those served in restaurants. I prefer to cook my own Tom Yum at home. I have never made wontons, however, and it is time to prepare them. They look great!

lequan@luvtoeat said...

Tanantha, if you care to write it, we care to read about it. Plus, I can't always think about food 24/7. Maybe 23/7, but not 24/7 (wink).

Ok, now you've got me craving for Tom Yum noodles and wontons! I've only had the Tom Yum noodles here in Canada though, never anything as authentic as Thailand. I would love to try the authentic ones though after seeing your beautiful creation. Isn't fish sauce so stinky yet so yummy? Haha.

Biren said...

Spicy noodle soup works for me any time of day. I can never get enough of it. Your version of tom yum noodles looks really yummy :)

Stella said...

Tanantha! Oh my Tanantha! This looks so awesome-I mean it too. This is the kind of soup I crave-regularly. You know, I've just started trying to make Asian soups, so I'm putting this Tom Yum post on my list of 'soups to make'. I usually have most of these ingredients on hand, and I can plan to get the others...
p.s. Thanks for signing up to my blog. That make me happy ;)!

Norah said...

what a great meal!! it looks so good; super flavorful! nice, nice, nice...

Unknown said...

The won tons are great, the noodles look amazing...Your blog always makes me so hungry! :-)

Baking Barrister said...

I'm so going to make this soon! I love reading your blog for inspiration for my Asian dishes.

Emily said...

I'm crazy over street food and night market. That's where you can get all these delicious treats at cheap prices.

I love your version of tom yum, the color of the soup looks perfectly red and fried wontons, I can eat whole lot of those despite the risk of getting pimples on my face. :P

Anonymous said...

Gorgeous :) As delicious as the meal looks, can I just say those are some fun place mats! :)

Cook with Madin said...

Can I have some now? This really looks delicious. I eat soup any time of the day. Lovely post Tanantha and great photos too.

denise @ quickies on the dinner table said...

Oh Wow! Tanantha - you have me almost in tears! Just had dental work done and you don't know how much I wish I could eat something like your bowl of noodles!! It looks WONDERFUL and man, I am really, really hungry LOL Absolute perfection. Love to crunch into one of those wontons!!

Nancy said...

Droooollllll! I am so craving your Tom Yum soup now. You know I love it spicy like you , I can't wait to try this really soon. And the crispy wontons I can just picture how great they will taste with the soup. I also agree with you about the best places to eat at in both our local cities and when traveling. We always seek those kind of whole in the wall places. Yum!

Liv Wan said...

Hi Tanantha,
Oh my.....This noodle soup looks so tasty. It reminds my trip in Thailand. I love Thai food(especially the street foods in Thailand are amazingly tasty and also super cheap! ) very much and always wish can learn more Thai food. Many thanks for sharing. You're awesome!

ann low said...

Oh... Tanantha! I'm late for this delicious noodle soup. Next time I must come here earlier... ;DD

Mo said...

Everything looks delicious, Tanantha! I'm especially intrigued by the choysum, which I'd never heard of until now. :)

Andra@FrenchPressMemos said...

When I was pregnant, I was basically addicted to Tom Yum soup- the lemongrass kind, ultra spicy!

This reminded me of that and made me crave it again!

Laetitia said...

your dish looks so delicious!

Jennifer said...

Hi Tanantha,
this looks superb. Obviously, I now feel like I've never had "real" tom yum soup. I'll have to give it a go and also buy fish sauce. I've never worked with it *gasp*!

I'm such a wussy Asian because I can't eat hot. Me and my fellow Asian friend M, whenever we go for Thai we always the least "hot" when we get dishes. I love hot, but hot does not love my stomach or bowels....

DailyKitchen said...

Lovely photos, you are a perfectionist with the food. Looks really delicious - shall have to try it!

Joudie's Mood Food said...

Just what i love. Looks sooooo Good. All the flavours must be amazing. Yumm!

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