Soupless Tom Yum Noodles

Instructions

1. 1

   For the fried garlic and garlic oil: Add the oil to a small pot and place it on medium high heat. Add one piece of garlic as a “tester” and wait for it to start bubbling. Once the garlic bubbles, turn the heat down to medium low add the remaining garlic. Stir the garlic constantly until the it’s golden (not browned) and the bubbling has mostly subsided, about 5 minutes. Drain through a metal sieve and keep the garlic and the oil separated.

2. 2

   Make the marinated pork by combine the sliced pork with all the soy sauce and sugar and mix until you no longer see any sauce pooling at the bottom. Set aside.

3. 3

   Cook the ground pork: In a medium pot, add about ¼ cup of water and bring to a boil. Add the ground pork and fish sauce and stir until the pork is fully cooked, breaking up the lumps. Use a slotted spoon to remove the ground pork and reserve the cooking liquid.

4. 4

   Close to serving time, bring a large pot of water to a full boil; be sure to add lots of water so the noodles can be fully submerged while inside a sieve.

5. 5

   Meanwhile, divide the drained noodles into 4 equal portions (or however many portions you’re making) as you will be cooking one portion at a time. If possible, use a scale to make sure all portions are exactly equal. You can place them on a tray and use paper towel to keep them separated.

6. 6

   Mix the noodle sauce. In each of the serving bowl, add 1 Tablespoon (15 ml) of the reserved ground pork cooking liquid. Then add all the tom yum noodle sauce ingredients into each bowl; set aside.

7. 7

   When the water is boiling, add the Asian meatballs and let them cook for a minute or so just until heated through (they are already cooked). Fish them out and side aside.

8. 8

   In the same pot, place the sliced pork into a noodle strainer, wire skimmer, or metal sieve then dunk it into the boiling water and shake it around for 30 seconds or so, just until the pork is cooked through; remove and set aside. Do not over cook the pork!

9. 9

   Put out all noodle bowl toppings so they are ready for people to top their bowls. Don’t start cooking the noodles until all toppings are ready as this dish needs to be eaten as quickly as possible after the noodles are tossed. Also make sure the people are there and ready to eat.

10. 10

    Cook the noodles: Allow the water to come back to a full boil. Put one portion of soaked noodles in a noodle strainer or a sieve, then dunk it in the boiling water and wiggle it around for 10 seconds ONLY. Lift them out and shake off excess water well. Check doneness by tasting a noodle, and it should still be a little chewy in the middle, but not hard. If they are fully tender, reduce the cooking time to 7-8 seconds for the next one.*Without a noodle strainer, you can blanch the noodles directly in the pot and scoop them out with a wire skimmer or sieve.

11. 11

    Add the noodles to the serving bowl with the sauce inside and immediately toss to mix. Then add a small handful of bean sprouts and mix briefly. Ideally at this point you hand it off to the diner to put their own toppings on while you cook the remaining portions.

12. 12

    Top each noodle bowl with ROUGHLY the following: A few pieces of sliced pork, a few pieces of meatballs, 2 tablespoons of the ground pork, 1 heaping tablespoon of ground peanuts, 1 teaspoon of dried shrimp fluff, 1 heaping teaspoon of fried garlic, and a generous amount of chopped cilantro and green onions.

13. 13

    Serve immediately with a wedge of lime for those who might want it more sour. Mix well before eating.