Thai Egg Noodles & Pork Soup (Ba Mee Nam)
Submitted by SonjaW
Ba mee nam: Thai egg noodle soup with ground pork, dried shrimp, crispy fried garlic, bean sprouts, and crushed peanuts in a savory chicken broth. Comforting and ready in 40 minutes.
YIELD
6 servingsPREP
10 minCOOK
30 minREADY
40 minThis is Thai street food comfort in a bowl, the kind of soup that Bangkok vendors ladle out by the hundreds every morning.
Chewy egg noodles sit on a bed of blanched bean sprouts, then get hit with a sizzling drizzle of crispy fried garlic in oil.
The broth is a savory mix of chicken stock, browned ground pork, dried shrimp, and fish sauce, poured over everything while still bubbling hot.
Finish with sliced cooked pork, green onions, cilantro, crushed roasted peanuts, a pinch of sugar, and as many chile flakes as you can handle.
Kitchen Tips
- Fry the garlic in oil over medium heat and watch it like a hawk. It goes from golden to burnt in seconds, and burnt garlic will make the whole bowl bitter.
- Dried shrimp adds a deep, briny umami backbone to the broth. Look for them in the Asian grocery aisle.
- Tear the lettuce into the boiling broth and immediately remove from heat. It should barely wilt, adding a fresh crunch to the soup.
- Assemble each bowl in order: bean sprouts first, then noodles, then garlic oil, then broth. The layering matters for texture.
Ingredients
Directions
Blanch the bean sprouts for a minute, then set them aside to drain.
Boil the noodles in plenty of water for five minutes, then drain them.
Next, cook the ground pork in a saucepan over medium heat until it begins to brown.
Add chicken stock, dried shrimp and fish sauce, stir, and bring the mixture to boil.
Meanwhile, chop the garlic and fry it in a tablespoon of vegetable oil until it is crisp.
Place the blanched bean sprouts in the bottom of a large serving bowl.
Top with the cooked noodles.
Pour the fried garlic and its oil over top of the noodles.
When the chicken stock mixture boils, tear the lettuce leaves into strips, add them to the stock, immediately remove the stock mixture from the stove, and pour it over the noodles and bean sprouts.
Garnish with pork slices, green onions and corriander leaves.
Sprinkle in the sugar, peanuts and chile flakes and serve immediately.
Comments
This recipe is a great base, but I augmented it a bit to make it more like the Vietnamese Pork and Shrimp soup I loved so much in Paris. See my site: http://recipestockpile.blogspot.com for the recipe.