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Vegan kway chap nam kon ก๋วยจั๊บน้ำข้นวีแกน

This guay jap recipe makes approximately 8 servings, give or take, but the instructions dictate making the stock and then preparing the bowls one at a time. What this means is everything under the "noodles" heading is designed for one serving.
A lot goes into make Thai noodle soups and this is no exception. When taking all of the condiments, stock, add ins, and toppings into account there's a whole lot of prep. I always recommend people make the fried garlic oil (gratiem jeow) and the condiments first, because they'll keep for a long while. That way, once the stock and mock meats are cooked, all you've got to worry about is boiling the rice flakes and chopping some herbs to dish up.
Servings: 8 servings

Equipment

  • Instant Pot

Ingredients

Soup

  • 25 grams garlic, chopped (4 very large cloves)
  • 15 grams coriander root or stems, chopped
  • 2 teaspoons white peppercorns (8 grams)
  • 1 ½ tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 30 grams palm sugar or light brown sugar (1 ½ tablespoons)
  • 2 ½ litres water
  • 2 tablespoons seasoning sauce See notes1
  • 1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons thin soy sauce See notes1
  • 2 tablespoons sweet dark soy sauce See notes1
  • 1 ½ teaspoons salt
  • 1 teaspoon sichuan peppercorns
  • 1 teaspoon Thai five spice powder e.g. Lobo brand
  • 7 grams cinnamon stick
  • 1 black cardamom
  • 1 star anise
  • 10 grams galangal cut into slices and lightly bruised (with a knife handle or pestle)
  • 2 pandan leaves knotted
  • 65 grams dried salted radish See notes2
  • 2 corn cobs corn removed (save it for another dish)
  • 20 grams 2 large dried shiitake mushrooms

"Meats" (See notes)

  • Firm tofu
  • Tofu puffs
  • Seitan
  • Fried yuba sticks
  • TVP meats

Noodles (per serving - see notes)

  • Dried rice noodle rolls 60 grams per person
  • 625 millilitres water
  • 2 tablespoons rice flour or tapioca starch mixed with 2 tablespoons of water in a small bowl

Toppings

  • Coriander leaf
  • Chinese celery
  • Spring onion
  • Gratiem jeow See notes3
  • Ground white pepper

Condiments (see notes)

  • Chilli vinegar prik nam som
  • Sugar
  • Prik bon kua
  • Prik nam plaa

Instructions

Stock

  • First make the stock. Pound the garlic, coriander stems/roots, and white peppercorns into a paste using a pestle and mortar. Heat your instant pot on saute to low. Add the oil and fry the paste for a few minutes, until you can no longer smell raw garlic. Scoop the paste out into a bowl.
  • Add the palm sugar and cook for another couple of minutes, stirring constantly, until it turns a few shades darker. Don’t let it burn.
  • Add water and all remaining soup ingredients, including the garlic/coriander root/white peppercorn paste. Turn the instant pot to slow cook on low heat (sealed), pop the lid on, and cook for 8-10 hours.
  • When the soup is finished, use a fine mesh strainer to remove the solids. Set the shiitakes aside to cool. When cool, chop and return to soup. Discard everything else.
  • Add the faux meats (approximate handful per person) and pressure cook on high for 1 minute. Let the pressure release naturally.

Noodles

  • Bring water to the boil. Give the slurry of starch/flour and water a stir to loosen it up and pour it into the boiling water. Stir. The water will thicken and turn cloudy.
  • Add the rice flake noodles one sheet at a time, while stirring, until they're all in the pot. Continue to stir, nonstop, for a few minutes until the noodles roll up. If some don't roll up, it's fine. When the noodles are cooked (5-10 minutes), strain and place into serving bowls.

To serve

  • Add around 250 millilitres (1 cup) stock to the noodle bowls, along with some of the stewed mock meats.
  • Top with 1-2 tablespoons worth of herbs and 1-2 teaspoons of fried garlic oil. Serve with suggested condiments.

Notes

  1. For an explanation of soy and seasoning sauces, look to my Thai soy and seasoning sauce primer.
  2. Dried salted radish comes in two varieties: sweet and salty. Here you want to use the latter.
  3. Fried garlic oil is a condiment you'll want to use on everything.
 
Meats: As mentioned in the body of the post above, I intentionally kept this list vague because different folks are going to have access to different items, and it's hard to provide measurements for disparate ingredients (hence suggesting a handful per bowl). If all you can get your hands on is fried tofu puffs, it's fine to just use those. Or you can use fresh tofu too. I note you should deep fry some the ingredients first, but that's not a requirement (but it will improve texture and aid in soaking up the stock). Whatever you do, don't fret too much about this.
Noodles: To make more than one serving at a time, increase the water to 1,250 millilitres plus ¼ cup rice flour or tapioca starch mixed with ¼ cup water. You can make up to 4 servings of noodles in this amount of liquid.
Condiments: