There is nothing like a bowl of Thai Chicken noodle soup…With stalls on every market and street corner, it is one of Thailand’s iconic dishes… Sometimes served with a spicy dish or by itself and it can be a lovely flavoured chicken dish with no spice or it can be a fiery as you like…

The choice of noodles is yours and the spices and other condiments are served on the side to add as little or as much as you like …

Not sure which noodle are which then here is a previous post on the noodles and what they are :

https://blondieaka.wordpress.com/2018/07/25/smorgasbord-blog-magazine-the-food-and-cookery-column-with-carol-taylor-thai-noodles/

Made with tender slices of chicken or with chicken on the bone. the choice is yours..I prefer chicken on the bone as it is more flavourful and would be how it is mainly served here on the street stalls but the choice is yours…

Starting with the stock recipe which you can freeze and use as required…Freeze in maybe 2 cupfuls in a zip loc bag and lay flat it takes up less room in your freezer and thaws out much quicker…It also enables you to make one bowl or a bigger portion…

Chicken Stock:

Makes about 6 cups

• 2 lb chicken bones, remove any big chunks of fat  and skin
• 3 L water
• 5 cloves garlic, smashed
• 4-inch section daikon, peeled, or use 1 onion instead (or use both like I did)
• 2-3 cilantro roots, or about 8 stems
• ¼ tsp white peppercorns, crushed just until broken
• 2 stalks of lemongrass, top half only, cut into chunks (optional, only if you’ve got some handy) When I use lemongrass I just chop the tops and freeze ..The tops add a fresh flavour but are not as strong and as perfect for the stock as we don’t want a strong lemongrass flavour.

Cooks Tip: When peeling daikon, peel a few layers off until the colour turns from bright, opaque white to a bit darker, more translucent white. I find the outer layer of the daikon a bit bitter. 

Let’s Cook!

Add the bones to a big pot and cover with the water. Bring to a simmer over high heat, then once bubbling, reduce the heat to maintain a very gentle simmer. Simmer bones for about 45 -50 mins.

Skim off scum, foam and fat that has floated to the top. It is easier to do this if you haven’t added your aromatics but add them after…

Add all the remaining ingredients then simmer for about another hour.

Remove all the bones and aromatics with a wire skimmer or strain the stock through a colander. The stock is now ready to use or to freeze once cooled down.

Cooks Tip:  There is often a lot of meat left on chicken bones, so if you want, you can pull off the meat from the bones after removing them from the stock, and you can use it in soups, chilli, stir-fries, fried rice…anything!

The meat will be bland so make sure you add it to something that will have a lot of flavourful sauce added to it or it is perfect in a rice soup for a child.

We are now ready to make this lovely Chicken Noodle soup…

Ingredients:

• 1 litre of your prepared chicken Stock
• Soy sauce
• Fish Sauce
• Sugar(optional)
• Head of garlic chopped for fried garlic
• 1-2 Chicken breast or legs…I normally allow 1 per person plus a couple extra sometimes the men or Aston want two.
• 250 gm of rice noodles or noodles of your choice soaked at room temperature until just softened as they will continue to cook when added to your soup.
• Thai chicken ball (optional) I don’t eat these but they will always be an option on a street stall and most Thais do eat them…
• 1 cup of bean sprouts ( optional)
• Bok choy or spinach ( optional)
• Garnishes: Fried garlic, chopped green onions, dried chilli, chilli oil, sliced bitter gourd, fresh herbs. preserved cabbage ( Tang chai)

Let’s cook!

Bring your stock to a slow simmer and add your chicken poach slowly in the stock, when tender then remove the chicken and allow to cool down then if using chicken breast shred it now and put in a bowl and set to one side.

While the chicken is poaching cook your chopped head of garlic in some oil until nicely golden and crispy remove from the oil and set to one side the oil can now be used for the soup or to use as a chilli oil.

We can now assemble our soup and it really is now made to your taste and choice…

Add your noodles and chicken to your bowl with Bok choy, bean sprouts or chicken balls if using…

Pour over your hot stock and now to garnish. If I am using shredded chicken I will toss in some soy sauce with a dash of fish sauce and add to the top of the bowl and then add fried garlic and my other garnishes as required.

You can see in this picture that I have added Thai basil and sliced bitter gourd my dried chilli and chilli oil I have stirred into my stock and added soy and fish as per my taste.

This picture shows the chicken balls as my Thai daughter-in-law’s taste.

It may sound complicated but it truly isn’t once you have made your stock, you can make that in bulk and freeze you only have to poach your chicken and then use the garnishes of your choice…

Thank you for reading I hope you enjoy the soup …Or maybe you have already tried it…Do you love it?? Please let me know in comments xxx

Next week I will be showing you how I make Pork stock both the chicken and the pork stock are widely used in Thai Cuisine. xx