National Noodle Day is right around the corner (October 6) and, to celebrate our country’s love of “noods” at home, we invite you to browse drool-worthy recipes from Canadian YouTube creators to make National Noodle Day as tasty as ever. Second up, Pailin Chongchitnant of PailinsKitchen, who hails from Vancouver, and offers on her channel recipes for Khao soi, homemade glass noodles and Thai chicken noodle soup. —Vita Daily
Please tell us a bit about yourself to start.
I am a Thai chef and for over 14 years I’ve been teaching Thai cooking on YouTube and on my website hot-thai-kitchen.com. I’ve also written 2 cookbooks, the latest one Sabai, which is all about simple Thai recipes, came out this year. I was born and raised in Thailand and now live in Vancouver.
National Noodle Day is right around the corner; why are noodles one of your favourite snacks/eats?
I think noodles are one of the most satisfying foods because they’re chewy and substantial, and also they’re fun to eat! You get to slurp and twirl, which you can’t do with anything else. Noodle dishes also span the whole range of flavours and cuisines, so no matter the mood, there’s always a noodle dish that satisfies.
What’s your go-to noodle dish or recipe?
The one noodle dish that always hits the spot is pad see ew. A stir fry of wide rice noodles with soy sauce and Chinese broccoli. The salty-sweet flavour and the chewy texture of the noodles is incredibly satisfying. Plus it’s very quick and easy to make!
Top tips to our readers, to help them easily jazz/spice up their noodles at home?
The primary taste of noodle dishes tend to be salty and sometimes salty-and-sweet, and they also tend to be quite heavy. So adding a little sour condiment can go a long way in balancing the saltiness and the sweetness, and to brighten up the flavours which makes it feel less heavy. A squeeze of lime or a vinegary hot sauce can often do the trick. In Thailand a classic condiment for noodles is prik nam som, which is simply chilies blended together with white vinegar, and it can really add a zing and liveliness to many noodle dishes, such as pad see ew and noodle soups. Similarly, a squeeze of lemon over a rich pasta can really elevate it.
Final question: spoon, fork or chopsticks?
As a Thai, we always eat with a fork and a spoon. But if it’s a noodle soup, then I use chopsticks and spoon.
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