Kuaytiaw (rice noodles) and the Chinese noodle stall

Kuaytiaw, the rice noodle served in broth or stir-fried, came into Thai cooking through the Chinese, chiefly Teochew and other southern Chinese settlers, who established noodle stalls in Bangkok and the trading towns of the central plains. The word itself is of Chinese origin, and the dish keeps the form of its first home: a bowl sold at a stall, eaten at once, and made to order by one cook working from a small set of ingredients.

The Chinese noodle stall is the root of a large part of Thai everyday eating. The noodle is made from rice, fresh or dried, cut broad as sen yai, narrow as sen lek, or fine as sen mi, and the cook chooses it as a part of the dish rather than as an afterthought. Leela Punyaratabandhu, in Bangkok, treats the noodle shop as one of the plainest places to read the city's cooking, since the bowl set before the diner is built from a few elements in careful proportion: the noodle, the broth, the meat or fish ball, the greens and the seasoning. The Chinese stall supplied the method and the Thai table supplied the seasoning. At the stall the broth is the cook's own, and the noodles are scalded briefly and drained before the bowl is assembled. What the Thai diner then does is distinctive. Four condiments stand ready on the table: dried chilli flakes, sugar, fish sauce, and chillies steeped in vinegar. The diner adjusts the bowl to taste, and so a dish of Chinese origin is finished in the Thai manner, balanced between salt, sour, sweet and heat by the person eating it. The stir-fried noodle follows the same line of descent. The wok and the practice of frying noodles over fierce heat belong to Chinese kitchens, and dishes such as phat si-io, noodles fried with dark and light soy sauce, and rat na, noodles under a thick gravy, show that technique at work. Thai cooks kept the method and adapted the flavourings, so that sugar, fish sauce and chilli stand beside soy sauce, and the result is plainly Thai while the hand that made it is plainly Chinese. This is the pattern of the whole chapter in small: a foreign form settles in a trading port, is sold to working people at a low price, and in time becomes so ordinary that its origin is seldom remarked. The noodle stall is therefore less a borrowing than a long partnership, and the bowl of kuaytiaw is one of its most durable products.

At the table the bowl of kuaytiaw is completed by the diner, who reaches for dried chilli, sugar, fish sauce and chillies in vinegar to bring the broth to balance. The broth itself is kept clean and gentle so that these additions can be made without being overwhelmed, and the soft noodle, the firm ball and the crisp green give each spoonful its contrast of texture.