← Nouns Cooking · Thai

Ingredients

• 1 kg Pork neck or spine bones
• 3 l Water
• 5 cloves Garlic, smashed
• 2 tsp black peppercorns
• 5 slices Galangal
• 3 coriander roots or a small bunch of stalks
• 3 Star anise
• 1 Cinnamon stick
• 3 Pandan leaves, knotted
• 150 g Daikon radish, cut into chunks
• 3 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp Dark soy sauce
• 2 tbsp red fermented bean curd, mashed
• 2 tbsp pickled garlic liquid
• 50 g rock sugar or white sugar
• 1 tsp Salt
• 300 g pork loin or fillet, very thinly sliced
• 250 g thin dried rice noodles (sen lek), soaked until pliable
• 150 g morning glory (water spinach), cut into 5 cm lengths
• 100 g Bean sprouts
• 4 tbsp fried garlic or fried shallots
• 1 handful Thai basil
• 2 Spring onion, sliced
• dried chilli flakes, to taste

Method

1. Put the bones in a big pot, cover with cold water, bring to the boil and boil for 5 min. Drain, rinse the bones and the pot, then return the bones with the 3 litres of fresh water.
2. Toast the peppercorns, star anise and cinnamon in a dry pan for 1 minute until fragrant, then add them to the pot with the garlic, galangal, coriander roots, pandan and daikon.
3. Bring to a simmer, skim off any foam and simmer gently, partly covered, for 1 hour.
4. Stir in both soy sauces, the bean curd, pickled garlic liquid, sugar and salt. Taste: the broth should be deep brown, savoury, a little sweet and fragrant with spice. Strain and keep it at a bare simmer.
5. Bring a separate pan of water to the boil. For each bowl, dip a portion of noodles, a few bean sprouts and morning glory into the water in a sieve for 30 seconds, then drop them into the bowl.
6. Dip a quarter of the pork into the simmering broth for about 1 minute, until no pink remains, and add it to the bowl.
7. Ladle over the hot broth and top with fried garlic, basil, spring onion and chilli flakes. Let everyone season with more chilli, sugar or a splash of vinegar.

Tips

• Street vendors thicken the broth with a little fresh pork or beef blood; it is optional and the soup is still delicious without it.
• Red fermented bean curd is sold in jars in Chinese shops; it adds the savoury depth, so don’t skip it. It and the soy sauces contain soy and wheat.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Hungry in Thailand Hot Thai Kitchen Simply Suwanee