It’s time for me to blog about this very interesting noodle, Guay Jub or it might also be called Guay Chap, Kuay Chaps, or Kuay Jub—all meaning the same thing. Do you remember the square rice chips I posted in the first episode of the noodles series? I’ve gotten a lot of attention for that and the pin noodles.

Well luckily, there is a beautiful young woman who had visited Thailand and ate this dish, and want to know how to cook it.

This type of noodle is only served with broth in Thailand but there are two type of broths: one is the clear pork soup and another is the dark five spice soup. The clear one is called Guay Jub Nam Sai ก๋วยจั๊บน้ำใส. The dark one is called Guay Jub Nam Kon ก๋วยจั๊บน้ำข้น. That’s it. There is no other kind of Guay Jub that I know of. And, of course, this is another Thai-Chinese dish.

Before we get any further, let’s figure out what is this strange noodle, Guay Jub. It’s a rice noodle just like the flat rice noodles or Sen Yai that you used to make, Rad Na, Pad See Ew, or Drunken Noodles, Pad Kee Mao. But instead of cutting the whole sheet into strisp, they cut the sheet into square chips about 2”x2”.

When you see the noodles in the bowl it isn’t going to be  in a chip form, obviously. The noodles in the bowl don’t resemble any “noodles” that you used to. This is not a long thin or thick strip at all. They’re look more like the small cigar rolls.

I’m sure you’ve seen that Italians have many different and unusual kinds of pasta made with wheat flour, and most Asians claim that the Italians adopted the noodles or the pasta idea from Asia. So why don’t we Asians know how to make our rice sheets, one of varieties of noodles we have, in many different forms as well? Guay Jub is at least one of the unusual-looking noodles.

Just cutting the noodle sheet in to a chip form isn’t going to make the noodle roll into a cigar. What makes it roll when boiled is because one side of the chip is dryer than the other side. When you boil it, the dryer side is going to absorb the water slower than the opposite side, and that will become the inner side of the roll.

I think someday I will have to give you a method for making fresh rice noodles. I used to make them myself when I couldn’t find a place to buy fresh noodle sheets, but I’m living in the Los Angeles area now. All the Asian goodies aren’t that hard to come by, but I do start to get a little sketchy about buying pre-made noodles due to the amount of preservatives they put in.

If you can buy dried Guay Jub Noodles, buy them for now. These places have them, Temple of Thai in the US and Thai Food in the UK. They either called it rice chips, rice flakes, Guay Jub or If you can’t find it but can find the flat rice noodles that haven’t been cut yet, you can use that instead.

When using flat rice noodles, you have to peel them apart and put them in a tray, let them dry on one side and then cut them into pieces. This way when you boil the pieces they will curl up.

Guay Jub isn’t my favorite noodle dish because it contains a lot of innards. I don’t eat any animal internal organs except foie gras. Obviously I don’t like any of the original guay jub. I’ve been told from my dad that Guay Jub is called Guay Jub because there has to be ten things in the bowl because “Jub” in Chinese means “ten”. I normally order this type of noodles with just pork, crispy pork, egg and tofu, no other innards or blood.

If you’re expecting to get the recipe with liver, blood, intestines, etc. I am so sorry, but I can’t provide you with that. I can’t even stand to smell them in my house. There should be a recipe from other food bloggers who can teach you how to cook the real “Guay Jub,” but that won’t be me. Take notice that this is the first Thai recipe that I can’t be authentic with. #SobbingFuriously

So I’m going to give you a recipe for this noodle dish without the innards. I don’t think you want be eating them either, right?

This recipe is the reason why I was making the crispy pork that I gave you the recipe for last week. Guay Jub Nam Kon is the noodles with Chinese five spices broth. (I explained about the five spices in the pork leg stew post) The broth is dark in color, but the flavor is so phenomenal. You should try it.

Ingredients: (for 4)

Guay Jub noodles, dried 8 oz. (one bag)

Rice flour 1/4 cup

Water 5 cups

Ingredients for soup: (the ingredients I gave here is for 4 but in the picture I cooked for 8)

Crispy pork, all 300g or 2/3lb. From the recipe here —LINK—

Pork 1/2 lb.

Eggs,  4

Fried tofu 12 pieces (You can fry the tofu yourself or buy the one the already fried at the Asian groceries)

Below are the five spice ingredients I used; you can substitute all fives spices with 2 tablespoons of five spice powder

– Cinnamon 1 stick about 3 inches long

– Star Anise 2-3 pieces

– Sichuan Pepper 1/2 teaspoon

– White Pepper 1-1/2 teaspoons

– White Cardamom 3 pieces

Dark soy sauce 1/4 cup

Palm sugar 2 tablespoons (can be substituted with granulated sugar)

Rock sugar 1 tablespoon

Salt 1-1/2 teaspoons

Water 6-8 cups

Garlic 3-4 cloves

Cilantro root 1 root

Oil 1-2 tablespoons

Accessories: (of course)

One red chili

(Optional) 1/2 clove of garlic

Or if you have Indonesian Belacan chili use 1 tablespoon

Vinegar 1/4 cup

Garlic in oil 4-6 teaspoons

Chopped cilantro and green onion 1/4 cup

Sugar

Fish sauce

Method:

1) Add oil to the pot and put garlic in, fry until it releases its fragrance.

2) If you are using the five spice powder, lower the heat and add five spice powder to the pot and stir fry it for 30 seconds.

If you are using all the spices I listed, also add them in the order here: cinnamon, star anise, white cardamom, sichuan pepper to hot oil and stir fry them for 30 seconds.

3) Add the whole chunk of pork to the pot and sear it.

4) Add dark soy sauce first,

then follow with 6 cups of water, white pepper, cilantro root, salt, sugar, and  rock sugar, wait until it reaches a  boil, then simmer for another hour. Add water if needed.

5) Boil the eggs. I have a trick how to peel the eggs. You find a pot that the bottom fits the amount of eggs you want to boil, add all the eggs

and add water to cover about 1/2” above the eggs. Bring them to boil before you set the clock to 7 minutes.

Seven minutes later, turn off the stove and bring the pot to the sink, add cold water, transfer the first batch of water out, and add more cold water.

I would drop a few pieces of ice in the pot, too. Leave the pot sitting there for a while. I would rinse the fried tofu while I wait.

Check if all the eggs are cooling down. The eggs should be at room temperature. I usually leave them for 10 minutes. Once they’re all cooled down, drain the water out.

Then cover the pot and start shaking it. The eggs’ shells will start to crack.

Keep shaking until you start seeing the shells peeling off the eggs. As you do it, pick the ones that are peeled completely out. Don’t leave them in there because the pieces of the egg shell will stick in it.

Keep shaking until all of the eggs are peeled, rinse them all and be done!

6) Add the boiled eggs and fried tofu to the pot and continue simmering them. I would taste the broth to see if the taste is to your liking. The amount of the ingredients are just estimated. I’m not French with my ingredients. I normally am not that precise and everyone’s tastebuds vary beyond my ability to guess.

So taste the broth and adjust the taste. If you think it’s not dark enough color, add more dark soy sauce too.

7) Prepare the nam-jim using vinegar and crush cooked red fresh chili and a little bit of garlic if you like. I don’t use the garlic. Mush the chili then add the vinegar to it.

Another easy way is to mix the Belacan chili with vinegar

8) Once the pork is tender now you can start slicing the big pieces into  thin bite-size pieces. You also do the same with the crispy pork, too. Cut the eggs in half. They should be nicely dark color on the outside already.

9) We haven’t started cooking the noodles, but we’re going to now. Add water to another clean pot and set it to boil.

10) Separately, mix the rice flour with 1/2 cup of water, stirring until it’s all mixed.

11) Once the water reaches a boil, add the rice flour water to the pot together with the rice flakes or the rice chips and stir constantly. The noodles will curl…

…and you don’t want them to form only one big roll. You want them to roll separately. Stir for a while until they’re cooked. The water will turn into some thick liquid, glue-like. Then you stop cooking. You don’t want to overcook the noodles.

You are now ready to assemble the bowl.

12) Add the noodles to the bowl first,

then add all the tofu, eggs, pork and crispy pork. Pour the soup over everything in the bowl and garnish with fried garlic, chopped cilantro and green onion. You are now ready to serve.

Everyone can dress their soup to their preference, and don’t forget to add the chili in vinegar, too.

Enjoy!