Eating noodles in Chanthaburi

Fried egg noodles

You can get noodles anywhere Thailand food and that is, in addition to rice, often done by the Thai. In the Netherlands we mainly know noodles as mie and vermicelli (all Italian pastas can also be labeled as noodles) and in Thailand there are also several types of noodles, such as “ba mi” (wheat noodles), “sen lek” (fine rice noodles) and “sen yai” (wide, flat rice noodles).

Many dishes are made with noodles in Thailand and the recipes for this are often regional. Many provinces have their own specialty and so one can enjoy a “kui tio” (noodle dish) everywhere.

Also in Chanthaburi and from the menu there there are two particularly delicious local noodle dishes. The first is served in a broth and is called “Kui tio nuea liang”. The second is a dish of fine rice noodles fried with small crabs and is known as "Kui tio sen chan pad pu".

The typical Chanthaburi-style noodle dishes are hard to find elsewhere and even then they taste different when made in the province itself. That is actually a good thing, because if you really want to taste those dishes, you will visit this interesting province. It has even more to offer than some intriguing local dishes.

Chanthaburi has high mountain ranges with dense vegetation, in which there are many native herbs. The province is known for its pepper, but cardamon (family of ginger) is also abundant, especially the special type, the Tavoy cardamon. Chanthaburi is a coastal province, so a lot of fish is eaten.

In the past, Chanthaburi was home to many different ethnic communities. There were the Chaung people, who lived in the forested mountains, who sold spices. A population of Vietnamese Catholics resided there from the time the Chanthaburi area was under French control. There were also Chinese, descended from seafaring merchants.

All these groups are fully integrated, so that the local population, mainly engaged in agriculture, is a mixture of different ethnic groups. This diversity is the basis for the wide variety of dishes in this province.

Making noodles in Chanthaburi is done in its own way, so that, for example, the “Sen leak kui tio” has a beautiful “bite in the mouth”, which makes it taste different from anywhere else. It is produced and sold in a dried form so that it has a long shelf life.

Originally it was made in one factory, which had its own recipe with rice flour made from Chachoengsao province, where it is ground several times until it is very fine. This was mixed with flour made from the root of a local plant called “Thao yai mom” (Tacca leontopetaloides) and tapioca flour.

Noodle soup

The recipe, with the correct proportions of flour used, could be kept secret for 50 to 60 years by the only factory ever. Employees from this factory later started their own factories and nowadays the Chanthaburi noodles are sold under different brand names. The brands do not really differ in taste, provided that it is made in the province.

Originally, "Kui tio nuea liang" was more or less the same as the standard "Kui tio nuea (noodles with beef). The broth was made from beef bones, to which cinnamon and star anise were added as seasonings. But villagers in the mountainous region made it with water buffalo meat, usually the whole loin, that was cooked until it practically fell apart.

The contents of the pot were then kept aside (“liang” in the local dialect, hence the name of the dish) and the bones were simmered for a while with galangal, lemongrass, cinnamon and star anise. Common wild cardamom from the woods was also added, along with a whole kaffir lime, pickled garlic bulbs with the pickling liquid, plus pineapple and brown sugar for sweetness. This made the broth particularly fragrant and sweetish flavorful.

A note in between: the dish is also made with pork nowadays, because not everyone eats beef.

Besides “kui tio nuea liang” there is another local “kui tio” specialty in which the Chanthaburi noodles are fried with small crabs. For this, a spice mixture is first made from crushed dried peppers, shallots, garlic, shrimp paste and a little salt, which is then deep-fried in the moisture of the tamarind to which sugar and fish sauce have been added. Let it stand for a while, because it's waiting for the crabs.

When the fishermen of Chanthaburi draw their nets, they have caught a variety of sea creatures, including large numbers of small crabs, which they call "Pu katoy". They are too small to be used in other dishes, but very suitable for our dish.

The crabs are chopped in half, added to the spice mixture and then simmered until the crabs are completely dried out. The juice of the crabs mixes with the spice mixture and gives it a special taste. Chanthaburi noodles are then added and bean sprouts and leeks are added at the last minute.

There are several food shops in Chanthaburi, which offer tasty “Kui tio nuea liang” for sale. The Jay Tuk shop in Talad Tha Mai is one of them; Chanthon Phochana on Benjamorachuthit Road in Chanthaburi town is another good address.

Again, you really have to taste these special noodle dishes in the province of Chanthaburi. I guarantee you that if you do, you will definitely come back to this beautiful province for a next visit.

Adapted from an article by Suthon Sukphisit in the Bangkok Post