Yum Mama (ยำมาม่า) / Instant Noodle Salad

Here is another super fast, super easy, super amazing dish for a Thai menu! You definitely won't be able to find this dish in most Thai restaurants.

The use of instant noodles in this dish makes it very affordable and very popular too in Thailand.  Being a yum, it is a little bit sweet with a bit of sour from some kick of lime, and of course a little bit spicy from chili powder.  Add that all flavor to wonderfully chewy instant noodles and dry sautéed pork and you've got an amazing dish on your hands.  

Every year when it the weather gets a bit too warm and hazy, my youngest daughter will suddenly have little to no appetite.  When this happens, I will suddenly also be completely out of ideas of what to cook.  This year, my mom told me to try this recipe because now that my youngest daughter is all grown up, she can enjoy more spicy food.  Let's try! My mom has never been wrong.

This dish is supposed to be quick and easy, utilizing anything you have on hand.  Let me know if this cures your food sluggishness as well!

- Daisy

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I love this dish.  I definitely did not appreciate the yums, or a type of Thai salad, until I was much older.  The blasts of all the flavors; sweet, salty, spicy, sour, that is what I really think Thai food is all about.  You can read more about them and other types of Thai salads on wikipedia.

What really makes this dish special though is the instant noodles.  I would definitely recommend you stick to the Mama brand.  It is readily available in most, if not all, Asian supermarkets and is essential to this dish.  Try to replace it with any other type of noodles and it will be a completely different dish.  And be careful not to overcook it.  I would actually tell you to make sure its a bit al dente.  Yea, its the Italian in me.  This can be shared as an appetizer or a light meal for one.

This version uses ground pork, which is very classic Thai, but my favorite version is a seafood version I love to order whenever I go to the beaches in Thailand.  It will usually come with fresh squid and shrimp and is absolutely DELICIOUS and oh so very refreshing in the Thai heat!

- Darin

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Yum Mama

ยำมาม่า

Instant Noodle Salad

1 tbsp Vegetable Oil

1/4 lb Ground Pork

1 Shallot, sliced

1/4 tsp Salt

1 package Instant Noodle, Mama brand
1 tsp Fried Garlic Oil
1 tsp Cayenne Pepper
1 tbsp Prik Manow Num Pla (this is essentially fish sauce, lime juice and sliced Thai chilies)*
2 tbsp Cilantro, chopped
1/2 tsp Sugar
1 Boiled Egg, quartered

1) Put some oil in the pan, swirl the oil around then pour it out, we're only looking for a light coating.  Then, heat up the pan and stir in ground pork, cooking until no longer pink (no need to brown). Mix in the shallots and salt and set aside to cool in a mixing bowl. 

2)  In a pot, boil the noodle according package directions, but cut the cooking time by a minute or so. Omit all the flavor packages.  Drain when it's done and rinse with cold water and drain very well, otherwise the flavors will be diluted. 

3) Stir in garlic oil (if you don't have any feel free to use the oil included with the instant noodles), then mix in the Prik Num Pla, cayenne and sugar.  Adjust to taste.

4) Put the noodles in a beautiful dish and top with the boiled egg, and garnish with cilantro.  Aroy-Ka!

*You can make this very easily and to your own tastes.  Start off with half a lime and 1/2 tbsp of fish sauce.  Then add in 1-2 thinly sliced Thai chili (bird's eye chili) and adjust to your taste.  You can also sprinkle in a bit of sugar.

Kana Pad Ped Moo Krob (คะน้าผัดเผ็ดหมูกรอบ)/Crispy Pork and Chinese Broccoli Spicy Stir Fry

"Ka Na" (คะน้า) in Thai and "Kai Lan" (芥蘭) in Cantonese are both Chinese Broccoli.  My "Pad Ped Moo Krob" (ผัดเผ็ดหมูกรอบ) is my home style stir fry one meal dish. My family doesn't like eggplant but we do like Chinese broccoli and regular broccoli so we substitute that instead for the traditionally used eggplant.  If you like broccoli rabe, try with this recipe and let us out how it turns out!

Moo Krob (หมูกรอบ) is the pork belly that has been salted then roasted to the point that the skin super crispy. You can find it in any Cantonese noodle restaurants or in certain Chinese supermarkets.  In the past I only knew one way to eat crispy roasted pork and that was in place of the Char Siu (叉燒) with rice, which is a great Cantonese one dish meal.  I really love it!  But with this recipe, now I can introduce one more dish with the crispy roasted pork but Thai-style with even more flavor.  Even my youngest daughter said "umm" at her first bite.  If you do not like pork or have a hard time eating anything fried or crispy, feel free to substitute to boneless chicken thigh or boneless beef ribs.

Please adjust the heat  to your preference.  As always, eating with Thai people always has some "Prik Nam Pra, Ma Nou" or the Thai fish sauce with bird's eye chili and lime juice on the table. I do not know why you need it since the dish is so delicious, but Thai people still have the custom or the culture to have the dipping sauce with.  We can't help it.  Or is it just a something that we have to do when we eat? I do not know, but my condiments are never far from me.  Now I am curious which country has the most dipping sauces in the world, or consume the most in the world?

- Daisy

 

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I nearly fainted when I had this.  It was THAT good.  My mom hadn't made this dish before, or at least not when I can remember.  Its strange how your palate changes as you grow.  There have been so many times where she will make something that I am absolutely in love with, only to find out that she used to make it all the time when my brother and I were young, and only stopped because we complained that we didn't like it.

In this case, since the dish is pretty spicy, I could probably understand why my brother and I couldn't take it.  I still can't eat food that is too spicy, I feel like at a certain point it just kills your tastebuds but try telling my mom that.   

- Darin

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Kana Pad Ped Moo Krob 

คะน้าผัดเผ็ดหมูกรอบ

Crispy Pork and Chinese Broccoli Spicy Stir Fry

Serves 2-3

1/2 lb. Crispy Roasted Pork
1 1/4 lb. Chinese Broccoli, washed and cut diagonally
2 tsp. Red Curry Paste, preferably Maesri
1/2 cup Thai Basil
3 tsp Fish Sauce
2 tsp Sugar
3 cloves Garlic, smashed
3 cloves Garlic, minced
3 Fresh Red Chilies, cut diagonally
6 tbsp Vegetable Oil

1) Put the Chinese broccoli in a microwave proof bowl, cover and heat for 1 minute.  Set aside.

2) Heat up a sauté pan with 2 tbsp oil and refry the pork for 2 minutes on each side.  Set aside. 

3) Heat up another 2 tbsp of vegetable oil and toss in the smashed garlic and fry until fragrant (not burnt!) then pour in the Chinese broccoli.  Let it heat up for a couple of seconds before starting to stir. Use two spatula to stir, almost like you are tossing a salad, until cooked then add 1 tsp sugar and 1 tsp fish sauce. Set aside.

4) In the same pan, add in 2 tsp of Thai red curry paste and the minced garlic.  Pour in the pan juice from Chinese broccoli dish and quickly stir to incorporate with the curry paste.  

5) Add in the pork and the Chinese broccoli and mix everything together, making sure they are all coated with the sauce.  Taste it before adding in some more sugar and/or fish sauce. 

6) Stir in basil and serve with hot white or brown rice.