Hello Diners!

This month our good works take us to Cambodia. Our grantee, Lotus Outreach, aims to empower women and children living in poverty around the world. Together Women Rise is funding Girls Access to Education (GATE), Lotus Outreach’s project that targets high-performing girls who are at risk for leaving school. It works with girls, their families, and community advocates, with a special focus on scholarships and safety.

I checked out a few books on Cambodian cuisine from my local library where I came across a beautiful memoir, “Slow Noodles: A Cambodian Memoir of Love, Loss and Family Recipes,” by Chantha Nguon. Just reading the prologue made me wonder for a minute if I could keep reading this book. There was so much heartbreak and loss during the Pol Pot regime.

Chantha’s story tells of the time period when she was forced to leave Cambodia at age 9 and spend the next two decades as a refugee. Her memoir is interspersed with recipes that bring her a loving connection with her family, memories of her mother and what her kitchen was like, as well as what it was like trying to put food on the table in the lean times.

For Chantha, one of the strongest memories of home and her mother was Kuy Teav, or Cambodian Noodle Soup with Pork. It is traditionally eaten for breakfast, and it was always a special treat when they were able to have it. As Chantha says, “so much of Cambodia has changed forever, but Kuy Teav is eternal.” So, of course, I had to share a version of this recipe with you.

I’ve kept this recipe as simple as possible, but if you look up recipes for this noodle soup you can find some with 20 ingredients in it! Suffice to say, you can make this soup as elaborate or as simple as you wish, depending on what you have in the fridge and what your favorite garnishes are.

Although this is traditionally breakfast soup, I see no reason that it can’t be eaten at any time of the day. We enjoyed it for dinner on a lovely summer night. But I already have plans for the leftovers – I just might serve it for breakfast with an egg on it!

Kuy Teav (Cambodian Noodle Soup with Pork)

Serves: 4 large or 6 smaller servings

Time: Total cooking time 3 hours, hands-on time about 1 to 1 ½ hours

Ingredients

For the stock:
2 to 3 pounds meaty pork ribs
1 large white onion, quartered
2 carrots, cut into chunks
2 stalks celery, cut into chunks
1 teaspoon dried shrimp (optional)
1 tablespoon chicken bouillon, or two cubes
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
16 oz. flat rice vermicelli noodles
Fried garlic (not optional!)

For the toppings:

Fried garlic: roughly slice up cloves from 2 heads of garlic. Fry in a heavy bottom sauté pan – cast iron is perfect – in plenty of neutral oil. Keep stirring often until the garlic is a medium golden brown and remove/strain the garlic from the oil. It will crisp up as it cools. Save the delicious garlic oil for future cooking, or stir it into the cooked rice noodles.

Cilantro leaves, fresh mint, lettuce leaves, sliced scallions, bean sprouts, slivered cabbage, pickled radishes, chili sauce/chili oil (I particularly love chili crisp), Thai red chilis, soy sauce, fish sauce, lime wedges

Cooked proteins: Shredded pork from the bones; shrimp (poach in the pork stock); shredded chicken; ground pork; tofu, cubed

Directions

In a large pot add a few quarts of water and bring to a boil. Add the ribs and par-boil, or simmer, for about 5 minutes. This helps remove impurities and keeps the resulting stock clear. Remove the ribs to a plate and dump out the water from the pot, give it a wipe to clean out any residue.

Return the ribs to the pot and add about 6 quarts cold water to the pot, along with the carrot, celery, onion, and dried shrimp if using. (I did not use the shrimp, but since I always have anchovies on hand, I substituted one anchovy for the shrimp.) Bring to a gentle boil, then turn down to a simmer. You’ll keep an eye on this for the next couple of hours by checking to see that the stock remains at a low simmer. Skim off any accumulated foam that rises to the top. Give it 2 ½ to 3 hours simmer time.

Remove the pork from the stock and pick the meat off the bones, reserving it to top the soup. Add the rest of the seasonings to the stock, the bouillon, fish sauce, salt, and sugar, to your taste. Now your stock is ready to be assembled into a beautiful bowl of Kuy Teav.

For the noodles: Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add the noodles. Simmer according to package directions and/or taste one until you feel that the texture is just right. Drain noodles and rinse in cold water.

Place a portion of noodles in each soup bowl, add a ladleful of steaming stock, and garnish away to your heart’s content!

Recipe and photo credit: Linda McElroy