About this recipe
Kuy teav is a clear rice-noodle soup eaten across Cambodia, above all at breakfast, from market stalls and street carts. A light, clean broth — most often simmered from pork bones, though beef and seafood versions exist — is poured over thin rice noodles and topped with sliced pork, offal, prawns or pork balls, then finished with bean sprouts, fried garlic, herbs and a squeeze of lime at the table. It belongs to the wider family of Southeast Asian rice-noodle soups carried and adapted by Chinese, especially Teochew, communities, and it is closely related to Vietnamese hủ tiếu and to Thai kuaytiaw; this book presents the Khmer form and logs those relationships rather than collapsing them. What tends to mark kuy teav is the clear pork broth, the prominent fried garlic and garlic oil, and the do-it-yourself finishing at the table.
Recipe facts
- Yield
- 4 servings
- Prep
- 30 minutes
- Cook
- About 2 hours (mostly unattended broth)
- Total
- 150 minutes
- Difficulty
- Intermediate
- Spice
- Mild (heat added to taste at the table)
Allergens Contains pork and, as written, shellfish (prawns) and fish sauce. Contains no dairy. Not vegetarian. See the halal-status field.
Development draft. This is an untested development recipe from the cookbook project. It has not been kitchen-tested, and the quantities and timings are the author’s working draft rather than a verified result.
Ingredients
The broth
- 2 lb (900 g) pork bones (neck and leg bones are good)
- 1/2 lb (225 g) pork shoulder, in one piece
- 1 whole onion, halved
- 3 in (7.5 cm) fresh ginger, halved lengthwise
- 2 dried squid or 2 tbsp dried shrimp, rinsed (optional, for depth)
- 3 qt (2.8 L) water
- 2 tbsp (30 ml) fish sauce, plus more to taste
- 1 tsp (5 g) salt
- 1 tsp (4 g) sugar, or 1 tsp (5 g) palm sugar
- 1/2 tsp (1 g) white pepper
The garlic oil
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) neutral oil
- 6 cloves garlic, finely minced
To assemble
- 12 oz (340 g) dried thin rice noodles, soaked and drained (or fresh rice noodles)
- 8 oz (225 g) pork loin or belly, thinly sliced
- 8 oz (225 g) small prawns, peeled (optional)
- 2 cups (about 150 g) bean sprouts
- 4 scallions, thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh herbs (cilantro and Asian celery leaf or culantro)
Table condiments
- Lime wedges
- Sliced red chilli, or chilli in vinegar
- Extra fish sauce and sugar
- Extra bean sprouts and herbs
Equipment
- Large stockpot for the broth
- Fine skimmer or ladle
- Small pan for frying garlic
- Sieve or noodle basket for blanching
Method
- Blanch the bones: cover the pork bones with cold water, bring to a boil, boil hard 3 to 5 minutes, then drain and rinse off the grey scum. Wash out the pot.
- Return the bones to the clean pot with the pork shoulder, onion, ginger and optional dried squid or shrimp. Add the 3 qt water, bring to a boil, then lower to a bare simmer.
- Simmer gently, skimming the surface now and then, for about 2 hours. Remove the pork shoulder after about 45 minutes, once tender, and set aside to slice later. Do not let the broth boil hard, which clouds it.
- Season the strained broth with the fish sauce, salt, sugar and white pepper. Taste and adjust; it should be light, savoury and just sweet.
- Make the garlic oil: heat the oil over medium-low, add the minced garlic and fry gently, stirring, until pale golden. Take it off the heat while still light — it keeps browning. Reserve the garlic and oil together.
- Blanch the soaked rice noodles in boiling water for 20 to 60 seconds until just tender, then divide among four deep bowls. Blanch the sliced raw pork and the prawns in the same water until just cooked, about 1 minute, and add to the bowls with the sliced cooked pork shoulder.
- Top each bowl with bean sprouts, scallion and herbs. Ladle the hot broth over, then spoon over some fried garlic and its oil.
- Serve at once, with the plate of lime, chilli and extra sprouts so each person can finish the bowl to taste.
The Complete Edition
Kuy Teav (Noodle Soup) sits in the Cambodia chapter
The book carries this recipe in full alongside the rest of the Cambodia chapter, the pastes and dips it is built on, and the twenty-seven pantry studies that open the collection.
In review with Amazon KDP
Both editions have been submitted to Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing and are currently in review. Submitted prices are $9.99 for the kindle edition and $49.99 for the paperback. Neither is on sale yet, and prices are as submitted rather than final.