Kuaytiaw

No, I don't know how to pronounce Kuaytiaw, but I do know that it is delicious.  I found this recipe in one of my favorite cookbooks: The World's Best Street Food: Where to Find it and How to Make it by Lonely Planet.  It has been my new goal to make a menu for each week, and then plan my grocery trips accordingly.  I realized recently that, although I love going to the grocery, I have the tendency to buy food without purpose or, at least without a complete thought-out plan.  I might buy food for one meal, and then get lots of random things on the side hoping that I will be able to figure something out in the days to come.  Sometimes, this does work, since I love (obviously) to experiment.  However, there are many times when I plan a meal in the morning, only to find that I'm missing ingredients, which forces me to change my menu.  That is not always a bad thing, since I have been able to come up with many new dishes, but it can be a strain on our pocketbooks, since I found myself always going back to the store for more ingredients that I lacked.  So, in the spirit of the new year, I have decided to make a better plan, to turn my house into a seasonal restaurant of sorts, and make my grocery visits count.
Although my intentions are sound and good, this planning is easier said than done.  This means that I'm having to look through all my cookbooks for recipes, or at the very least for inspiration.  This went spectacularly the first week and my one run to the grocery was quick, efficient, and cheap...plus we had food that lasted a full seven days.  I thought, "Well, hey, if it was this easy, I should have been doing this years ago!"  This week, however, I have had less good luck.  I did plan out a menu, but it is sometimes hard working with a budget, and with the seasons.  So many of the things that I wanted to make (like a Mediterranean salad with homemade falafel balls), are heavy on the summer produce.  It is nearly impossible to get a good, fresh tomato in January, and most of the other "summer" produce is coming from Mexico.  I am always conscious of where my food has come from and how it has been picked, packaged, shipped and even ripened for my enjoyment.  I'm blessed to live in a part of the country that cares just as much (and more) as I do about this, and my grocery, New Seasons, strives to provide a large percentage of local products (and by local, that includes the whole pacific northwest).  So, I had to go back to my winter mindset and decided on a comforting Thai soup, enchiladas, and stir fry (yes, that will include some produce from warmer lands...but, hey, sometimes you have to compromise).  That was about as far as I got this week, so we'll see how the end of the week goes.  But I will make a huge pot of beans, and slow cooked beef for enchiladas....so that might last us a couple days.

So, now on to the Kuaytiaw!  This is a Thai noodle soup that the cookbook calls the "hamburger" of Thai street food.  The ingredients and technique are ridiculously simple, plus it has both cooked and fresh elements to make a completely balanced meal.  I, of course, made some changes to this recipe (since we don't eat pork in our household), but I kept it pretty simple.

Kuaytiaw: from The World's Best Street Food Cookbook
(measurements are in metric...since the whole rest of the world uses it but us! haha)

10 oz pork or chicken stock
1.7 oz fresh rice noodles or 1.4 oz dried rice noodles
5 small pork balls or 2 TB cooked, shredded chicken
1 tsp white pepper
handful of bean shoots
handful of coriander (cilantro) leaves, chopped
fried garlic or onion flakes
spring onions, chopped
red chiles, chopped
wedge of lime for garnish

1. Boil the stock in a small saucepan
2. Add the noodles, pork balls, and while pepper and simmer until noodles are cooked.
3. Pour the soup into a bowl and top with the bean shoots and coriander leaves.
4. Garnish with fried garlic flakes, spring onions, and as much chili as you want and squeeze over some lime juice.  Serve immediately.

This is the exact recipe from the book.  And I'm sure this version is perfectly delicious, but being me, I had to make my own version.
For example, I used bean thread noodles instead.  I couldn't find rice noodles, and I didn't want to used udon or egg noodles, though those would work just fine, too.
Also, since we don't eat pork, and I wanted something comparable to pork balls, I decided to use chicken sausage instead.  I found some fresh, premade basil chicken sausage in bulk at the grocery.  I actually think this was a really good compromise because this soup needed a little fat and flavor.  Plus, I love basil in Thai dishes.  But, again, shredded chicken would also work just great in here as well.
I also added in more veggies because I thought the soup needed a little bulking up.  I used broccoli and mushrooms, but you could also use green cabbage, carrots, or bell pepper.

The Experimental Alchemist's version of Kuaytiaw:

1 quart chicken stock (plus 1 pint water, if needed)
2 large handfuls of bean thread noodles
1 pound basil chicken sausage balls
1 cup mushrooms, large dice
1 cup broccoli, cut into 1" pieces
2-3 tsp fish sauce
salt to taste
bean shoots, chopped cilantro, chopped green onion, lime wedges, and garlic chili oil (see recipe below) for garnish

1. Preheat oven to 400F.  Roll bulk sausage into balls, place in a shallow dish or baking sheet.  Bake for about 25 minutes until balls are cooked through.
2. Bring the stock to a boil.  Add mushrooms and noodles and simmer until noodles are cooked. Add in chicken sausage balls, broccoli, fish sauce, and salt (if needed). Turn off heat, and let sit for 2-3 minutes or until the broccoli is bright green.
3. Pour the soup into bowls and garnish with whatever garnishes you like.

Garlic Chili Oil

3 TB olive oil
5 cloves garlic, minces
3 Serrano peppers (jalapenos or Thai peppers would also work), minced

Heat olive oil in a small sauce pan on high heat until the oil starts to shimmer (about 1 minute).  Pour in garlic and chilies and saute until the garlic just starts to turn brown (about 1-2 minutes).  Take off heat and pour into a bowl to cool.  Use as garnish for Kuaytiaw.  Refrigerate any left over.

Our 'his' and 'hers' happy kitty bowls! :)

This soup is SO delicious and it is so fun to garnish to your heart's content.  You get both a savory soup and a crunchy, powerfully flavored salad all in one!  Enjoy! :)