Gǔuai-dtǐiao (ก๋วยเตี๋ยว), Thai Noodle Soup
There is one particular Thai dish, or range of dishes, that can be considered the street food of choice for most Thai people and is always served fresh and fast. It's gǔuai-dtǐiao (ก๋วยเตี๋ยว), the Thai term for Noodle Soup.
Gǔuai-dtǐiao comes in a wide variety of styles, flavours, textures and ingredients. Customers can choose what type of stock, the type of noodles, the meat and added condiments for the soup to get just the right balance of flavour (spicy, salty, sweet and sour). The noodle soup is sold from street carts, stalls, booths and restaurants throughout every Thai town and city. Finally, it is very healthy being low in fat but full of carbohydrates and protein.
Gǔuai-dtǐiao consists of noodles served in stock, topped with pork, chicken, beef, fish, seafood,meaballs, porkballs, chickenballs or fishballs (called lûuk-chín ลูกชิ้น) and some vegetables such as soy bean sprouts, cabbage or kale. Gǔuai-dtǐiao is mainly classified by the type of meat that is used in the stock such as pork, beef, duck, chicken,fish and seafood. Different gǔuai-dtǐiao restaurants usually specialise in either one or two stock bases and patrons choose their vendor on that basis. The basic noodle soup comes with different condiments that allow customers to adjust the flavour of their soup themselves.
These condiments are served on a small tray or rack called a krʉ̂ʉang bprung rót (เครื่องปรุงรส), meaning literally "machine mix flavours", cotaining four separate jars or containers that usually include fish sauce or nam bplaa (น้ำปลา), clear vinegar with pickled chilli or nám-sôm prík (น้ำส้มพริก), chilli flakes (chín-lék-lék prik (ชิ้นเล็กๆพริก) and sugar or nám-dtaan (น้ำตาล). Sometimes light soy sauce is added. Unlike other Thai dishes gǔuai-dtǐiao is eaten with chopsticks ( dtà gìiap ตะเกียบ ) and a spoon (chɔ́ɔn ช้อน ). Both noodles and chopsticks are clear Chinese influences. The word gǔuai-dtǐiao is a direct loan from the Chinese Teochew dialect. After the condiments are added you will see Thais use the chopsticks in one hand and spoon in the other to mix the ingredients together. This is to mix the condiments through the soup and also to mix in the noodles which have usually been put in in one lump by the vendor. You should follow this and look like e regular.
The noodles are served in a bowl slightly larger than a soup bowl and which is called a chaam (ชาม) but the contents will be somewhat less than you would be served in Australia. You can however ask for a larger or "special" (pí-sèet พิเศษ) serving for an extra 5 baht. The overall cost is 25 to 35 baht, not more than just over $1. All noodle dishes are available to take away, poured through a funnel into a plastic bag and sealed with a rubber band. Just say "Sài tǔng glàp bâan" (ใส่ถุงกลับบ้าน), literally "put in bag go home". Often you will even get little plastic bags of condiments.
Thais tend to have favourite noodle soups. The slight differences in quality and flavour are unrecognisable to farangs. The stock has to have just the right flavour and the llûuk-chín and meat have to be really tender. Interestingly though, despite the importance of the quality of the stock, Thais usually eat all the noodles and meat but leave much of the stock, unlike farangs who empty the whole bowl to the last drop.
Here are a few tips on ordering gǔuai-dtǐiao. There are three basic steps. Firstly select your stock type. This will usually be done whe you select the vendor but you can ask him or her whether he/she has tom yum, nam dtok or boat noodles, etc (see below). Secondly, select the type of meat, poultry, seafood, and/or lûuk-chín you want. Thirdly, select the type of noodles you want.
The meat in noodle soup comes in three forms, firstly, the bones used to cook the broth, secondly, the lûuk-chín and, thirdly, the meat and intestines. If you want both meatballs and meat in the soup you should order ruam meaning mixed (รวม), preceded by the type of meat you want ( e.g. moo ruam หมูรวม). If you prefer meatballs only, order lûuk-chín luan (ลูกชิ้นล้วน) followed by the type of meat you wish (e.g.lûuk-chín moo luan ลูกชิ้นหมูล้วน). For meat only (no meatballs), order sot meaning fresh (สด), preceded by the chosen type of meat, (e.g. moo sot หมูสด).
The seafood (aa-hǎan-tá~lee อาหารทะเล), fish (bplaa ปลา), duck (bpèt เป็ด) and chicken (gài ไก่) are ordered in the samr way.
And, of course, the above does not include stewed beef and pork ( nʉ́ʉa dtǔn เนื้อตุ๋น and mǔu dtǔn หมูตุ๋น) which are available from some vendors.
Types of Noodle Dishes.
Pork, kuai-tiao moo ( ก๋วยเตี๋ยวหมู ), is made from pork bones, with meat, lûuk-chín and possibly intestines from the pork.
Beef, gǔuai-dtǐiao nuea ( ก๋วยเตี๋ยวเนื้อ ) is made from beef bones, with meat, lûuk-chín and possibly intestines from the beef.
Chicken, gǔuai-dtǐiao gai (ก๋วยเตี๋ยวไก่) is made from chicken bones and can be served with braised chicken, chicken wings and possibly intestines from the chicken. Some vendors sell gǔuai-dtǐiao gai along with gǔuai-dtǐiao pet, which is then called gǔuai-dtǐiao gai toon yaa jeen ( ก๋วยเตี๋ยวไก่ตุ๋นยาจี).
Fish, gǔuai-dtǐiao bplaa (ก๋วยเตี๋ยวปลา) is broth made from pork and/or chicken bones, with fish luuk chin and fish.
Seafood, gǔuai-dtǐiao thalay (ก๋วยเตี๋ยวทะเล)is made with broth from pork and/or chicken bones, with different types of fresh seafood.
Types of Noodles.
There are five main types of noodles
Small rice noodles or sen lek (เส้นเล็ก).
Wide rice noodles or sen yai (เส็นใหญ่).
Yellow egg noodles or sen ba-mee ( เส้นบะหมี่) made from wheat flour and egg.
Vermicelli or sen mee (เส้นหมี่) fine round rice noodles.
Glass noodles or wun sen (วุ้นเส้น) made from mung beans.
And then there are soft or deep-fried dumplings or wontons filled with marinated chopped pork, giaw (เก็ยว).
Stock Styles and Flavours.
Clear stock, nam sai (น้ำใส) is usually made from pork, chicken or beef bones, flavoredwith salt, pepper, garlic, sugar, coriander and pandan. Available for all types of meats.
Tom yum (ต้มยำ) is the same recipe as clear soup but with added chilli paste (น้ำผริกเผา), crushed peanuts, lemon, sugar and fish sauce. Gǔuai-dtǐiao Tom Yum is usually sweeter than regular soup and available for pork, fish and seafood gǔuai-dtǐiao .
Dark stock, nam kon (น้ำข้น) is made from the same ingredients as clear soup, but has cinnamon, galangal, star anise and sometimes light and dark soy sauce added to it.
Nam dtok, literally waterfall (น้ำตก), is a special type of dark soup where liquid chicken or pork blood are poured into the soup right before serving to thicken the soup. It is often served with fresh morning glory and parsley.
Dry noodle soup, gǔuai-dtǐiao haeng (เก๋วยเตี๋ยวแห้ง). All noodle soup dishes can be ordered without the stock. In that case all the ingredients are cooked in the soup first, but served “dry” without the stock. Gǔuai-dtǐiao haeng is usually flavoured with dark soy sauce (ซีอิ้ดำ). Often a small or plastic bag of stock is provided separately.
Related Dishes
Yen Ta Fo (เย็นตาโฟ) is similar to normal gǔuai-dtǐiao with some important differences. The stock has a reddish or pinkish colour and preferably comes with wide noodles or glass noodles. It is topped with morning glory, white mushrooms, squid, different kinds of meatballs, thin pieces of deep-fried tofu, deep-fried giaw (เกี๊ยว)
and usually cubes of cooked chicken blood. Not my cup of noodles.
Ba-Mee Giaw (บะหมี่เกี๊ยว) is a clear stock with yellow egg noodles (ba-mee) and Chinese-type dumplings or wontons (giaw) filled with chopped pork. Often topped with red pork cuts and deep-fried giaw (บะหมี่เกี๊ยวกวางตุ). Delicious if the pork wontons are good.
These are only guidelines. Styles may vary depending on the particular vendor and neighbourhood.
Ordering gǔuai-dtǐiao in Thai will impress the vendor and all the Thai people around.
And just one final thing - you would never bother to cook Thai noodles at home. It's not just cost or time efficient when there's a noodle shop just around the corner.
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