Single Serving Vegetarian Kanom Jeen Nam Ya

In Thailand noodles are mainly featured in fried dishes (the ubiquitous pad thai, for instance), and curries are almost always eaten with rice. This street dish is the exception, where kanom jeen noodles are served with one of a selection of different curries and any number of condiments to suit personal taste. It’s a cheap dish, not generally huge in portion size, usually costing a more than reasonable 20-30 baht (in the ballpark of 50p), and is well worth seeking out.

I recently spent a few days in Bangkok, a once hated city which has grown on me in ways reminiscent of disordered teenage crushes (ohmygod I-like-you-so-much-we’ll-be-together-forever-let’s-have-babies-and-save-the-world). It’s a city of food, pure and simple. It was made to be eaten, and that’s precisely what captured my interest and drew me into this urban love affair (I-can’t-stop-thinking-about-you-do-you-love-me).

I set out early one morning to have breakfast at a vegetarian food court near Chatuchak market. Alas, it was Monday, the one day a week the restaurant is closed. Crushed (but not overly so as the adjoining shop remained open and I found some vegan treats), I was directed by a local to another vegetarian stall down the road. This was my first experience of kanom jeen, or Thai curry noodles.

The kanom jeen stall I found had three curries to serve with the noodles: gaeng keow wan (green curry), nam prik (a sweet and sour curry made with rich coconut and toasted mung beans), and nam ya. The language barrier between the owner and me meant I left her to decide on my meal. She chose nam prik, but over time I have come to favour nam ya or, preferably, a mix of about three quarters nam ya and one quarter nam prik.