🇹🇭 Thailand · nationwide home cooking
Kaeng chuetThai clear tofu soup
A mild, clear Thai soup of pork stock with minced pork or pork balls, soft tofu, glass noodles and napa cabbage, seasoned with fish sauce, white pepper and sometimes dried shrimp, garlic and coriander root.
Origin and history
Kaeng chuet is an everyday Thai home soup, described in Thai food writing as an easy, light dish suited to breakfast or dinner and eaten with hot rice. The sources consulted give no documented origin for it. Versions vary widely with what a household has to hand, from pork and egg tofu in a simple pepper-and-garlic broth to fuller bowls with glass noodles, cabbage and a rolled egg omelette.
Make it at home
- Makes
- 4 servings
- Total time
- 35 min
- Hands-on
- 20 min
Ingredients
- 1.2 liters5 cups pork bone stock, or water; the simplest recipes use plain water with the aromatics below
- 4 cloves garlic, lightly crushed
- 3 coriander roots (rak phak chi), washed; or the lower stems
- 10 whole white or black peppercorns, lightly crushed
- 200 g7 oz minced pork, not too lean; seasoned with 1 tsp light soy sauce and a pinch of white pepper
- 2 tubes (about 240 g)2 tubes (about 8 1/2 oz) soft egg tofu or silken tofu, cut in thick rounds
- 30 g1 oz glass noodles (woon sen), soaked in cold water until pliable, then cut in short lengths
- 1/2 head (about 250 g)1/2 head (about 9 oz) Chinese white (napa) cabbage, cut in wide pieces
- 1 carrot, cut in thin slices
- 1 tbsp fish sauce, or 1 tsp light soy sauce and 1/2 tsp salt, to taste
- 1/4 tsp sugar
- 1 stalk spring onion, sliced
- coriander leaves and celery, to garnish
Method
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1. Pound or crush the coriander roots, garlic and peppercorns together to a rough paste, or simply crush them lightly.
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2. Bring the stock (or water) to a boil with the coriander roots, garlic and peppercorns and simmer for 5 minutes.
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3. Season the minced pork with the soy sauce and pepper, then drop small spoonfuls into the simmering broth, one at a time, so they hold together. Do not stir for the first minute. Simmer until they float, about 3 minutes.
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4. Add the carrot and cabbage and simmer for 3 to 4 minutes, until the cabbage is soft but still pale green.
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5. Add the glass noodles and cook for 1 minute, until clear.
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6. Season with the fish sauce and sugar, then slide in the tofu and heat through for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring gently so it does not break.
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7. Scatter over the spring onion, coriander and celery and serve hot with steamed rice.
Notes
- Kaeng chuet is a mild, clear soup eaten with hot rice; there is no curry paste, only coriander root, garlic and pepper for fragrance.
- The two Thai recipes consulted differ in how much they add: one keeps it to minced pork, egg tofu and herbs in water; the other builds a fuller bowl with pork bone stock, glass noodles, white cabbage, carrot, celery, wood ear mushrooms and a rolled egg-and-pork omelette. This recipe sits in between, and its quantities are scaled up to 4 servings from the simple one.
- Use very soft tofu; the Wongnai recipe uses tube-shaped egg tofu. Add it at the end and stir gently, since hard stirring breaks it.
- Make ahead: keep the stock and the vegetables separately and add the tofu just before serving; the soup is best eaten fresh.
Adapted from Wongnai Cooking, Kaeng chuet tofu moo sap (recipe by Kantakawi) and Sanook, วิธีทำแกงจืดเต้าหู้ไข่ม้วน (Kaeng chuet with rolled egg and tofu).
At the festivals
No festival we list has printed it on a menu yet.