Boat noodles (, , ) is a Thai style
noodle
Noodles are a type of food made from unleavened dough which is either rolled flat and cut, stretched, or extruded, into long strips or strings. Noodles are a staple food in many cultures and made into a variety of shapes. The most common noo ...
dish with a strong flavor. It contains both pork and beef, as well as
dark soy sauce
In Chinese cuisine, dark soy sauce () is a dark-coloured soy sauce used mainly for adding colour and flavour to dishes. It is richer, slightly thicker, and less salty than other types of soy sauce. As the Chinese name () suggests, it is also age ...
,
pickled bean curd, and some other spices, and is normally served with meatballs and pig's liver. The soup is seasoned with pig or cow blood mixed with
salt
In common usage, salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl). When used in food, especially in granulated form, it is more formally called table salt. In the form of a natural crystalline mineral, salt is also known as r ...
and spices ( () or ()). The colour of the soup is similar to
beef noodle soup
Beef noodle soup is a Chinese noodle soup made of stewed or braised beef, beef broth, vegetables and noodles.
One of the oldest beef noodle soups is the Lanzhou niuroumian (蘭州牛肉麵), or Lanzhou beef noodle soup, which was created by ...
( ()) but considerably thicker due to the blood added. It is commonly served in a small bowl.
The other ingredients of boat noodles are
garlic
Garlic (''Allium sativum'') is a species of bulbous flowering plants in the genus '' Allium''. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chives, Welsh onion, and Chinese onion. Garlic is native to central and south Asia, str ...
, fried garlic,
radish
The radish (''Raphanus sativus'') is a flowering plant in the mustard family, Brassicaceae. Its large taproot is commonly used as a root vegetable, although the entire plant is edible and its leaves are sometimes used as a leaf vegetable. Origina ...
,
cinnamon
Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several tree species from the genus ''Cinnamomum''. Cinnamon is used mainly as an aromatic condiment and flavouring additive in a wide variety of cuisines, sweet and savoury dishes, biscuits, b ...
,
bean sprout
Sprouting is the natural process by which seeds or spores germinate and put out shoots, and already established plants produce new leaves or buds, or other structures experience further growth.
In the field of nutrition, the term signifies ...
s,
parsley
Parsley, or garden parsley (''Petroselinum crispum''), is a species of flowering plant in the family Apiaceae that is native to Greece, Morocco and the former Yugoslavia. It has been introduced and naturalisation (biology), naturalized in Eur ...
,
morning glory
Morning glory (also written as morning-glory) is the common name for over 1,000 species of flowering plants in the family Convolvulaceae, whose taxonomy and systematics remain in flux. These species are distributed across numerous genus, gene ...
, and some Thai chilli flakes. Type of the noodles for boat noodle are several, thin rice noodles, egg noodles, ''sen yai'' (, literally – 'big noodles'), and ''sen lek'' (, literally – 'small noodles').
Boat noodles are commonly served with pork crackling and
basil
Basil (, ; , ; ''Ocimum basilicum'' (, )), also called great basil, is a culinary herb of the family Lamiaceae (mints). It is a hardiness (plants), tender plant, and is used in cuisines worldwide. In Western cuisine, the generic term "basil" r ...
or
holy basil
''Ocimum tenuiflorum'', commonly known as holy basil, ''tulasi'' or ''tulsi'' (), is an aromatic perennial plant in the family Lamiaceae. It is widely cultivated throughout the Southeast Asian tropics. It is native to tropical and subtropical r ...
.
History
Boat noodles were originally served from boats that traversed Bangkok's canals.
In the past, a merchant who sold boat noodles would have been the only person working on a small boat, and would have had to do everything by himself from paddle a boat, scald the noodles, season the soup, serve the dish, handle money and wash the dishes. If the bowl was too big, it would be difficult to hand over to the customer on the land and might be easily spilled. This is the reason why the boat noodle's bowl is small, for the convenience and safety of the merchant.
Nowadays the dish is also served in restaurants, but the dish's historical identity is maintained by it still being served in a small bowl, and often with a boat moored in front of the place.
For notable boat noodles area in Thailand are
Ayutthaya
Ayutthaya, Ayudhya, or Ayuthia may refer to:
* Ayutthaya Kingdom, a Thai kingdom that existed from 1350 to 1767
** Ayutthaya Historical Park, the ruins of the old capital city of the Ayutthaya Kingdom
* Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya province (locall ...
and
Rangsit
Rangsit (, ) is a city and neighbourhood in Pathum Thani Province, Thailand. Rangsit is a metropolitan city that supports the expansion of Bangkok in the north. Rangsit has become a departure point for travel to provinces in north, northeast, and ...
in
central region, but presently the most notable is the
Victory Monument neighborhood.
See also
*
Cuisine of Thailand
Thai cuisine (, , ) is the national cuisine of Thailand.
Thai cooking places emphasis on lightly prepared dishes with aromatics and spicy heat. The Australian chef David Thompson, an expert on Thai food, observes that unlike many other cui ...
*
List of noodle dishes
This is a list of notable noodle dishes. Noodles are a type of staple food made from some type of unleavened dough which is rolled flat and cut into one of a variety of shapes. While long, thin strips may be the most common, many varieties of ...
*
List of Thai dishes
A list is a set of discrete items of information collected and set forth in some format for utility, entertainment, or other purposes. A list may be memorialized in any number of ways, including existing only in the mind of the list-maker, but ...
References
{{Soups
Thai noodle dishes
Noodle soups