A Guide to Thai Noodles: Which Noodle Goes with Which Dish

Noodles came to Thailand with Chinese migrants, and the everyday word for rice noodles, kuay tiew, comes from the Teochew dialect many of those families spoke. Over generations noodles became something Thais eat at any hour, from a breakfast bowl to a late-night plate.

The choice can look bewildering, but it follows a simple logic. Each noodle has a texture, and each texture suits certain dishes. Once you know the main types, menus make sense, and cooking at home gets easier too, because you can pick the right packet and treat it the right way.

The rice noodles: wide, thin and very thin

Most Thai noodles are made from rice flour and water. They come in three main widths, and the Thai names describe them plainly: sen means strand, yai means big and lek means small.

Sen yai: wide, flat ribbons, soft and slippery. Usually bought fresh, in folded sheets or pre-cut strips lightly coated in oil.
Sen lek: flat noodles a few millimetres wide, sold fresh or, more often abroad, dried as rice sticks. Chewy and springy when cooked well.
Sen mee: very thin rice vermicelli, almost always dried. Light and quick to cook, it soaks up broth and sauce.

Sen yai is the noodle for the big, saucy stir-fries. Pad see ew fries it with dark soy, egg and Chinese broccoli until the edges catch and char a little. Rad na lays the seared noodles under a thick, glossy gravy of meat and greens. Kuay tiew khua gai fries them with chicken and egg until crisp in places. In each case the width matters: a wide noodle has the surface to pick up colour from the pan and hold a sauce.

Sen lek is the noodle of pad Thai, where it needs to stay springy while absorbing a tamarind sauce. It is also the most common choice in noodle soups, including boat noodles. Sen mee turns up in soups, in stir-fries such as pad mee, and in many dishes where a fine, delicate strand is wanted.

Egg noodles and the Chinese side of the shop

Ba mee are yellow wheat noodles made with egg. They are thin, round and springy, with a slight bite that rice noodles do not have. The classic way to eat them is ba mee moo daeng, egg noodles with slices of red barbecued pork, often with wontons, either in a clear broth or served dry with a little seasoned oil and broth on the side.

Khao soi, the curried noodle soup of the North, also uses egg noodles, here flat rather than round, with a second handful deep-fried into a crisp nest on top. Fresh egg noodles are often dusted with flour, so shake off the excess before cooking.

Glass noodles, khanom jeen and kuay jap

Woon sen are glass noodles made from mung bean starch. Dry, they look like a tangle of fishing line. Cooked, they turn clear and slippery and take on the flavour of whatever surrounds them. They are the base of yam woon sen, the glass noodle salad with minced pork and prawns, and of goong ob woon sen, prawns baked in a clay pot over a bed of noodles that drink in the juices. They also go into clear soups and stir-fries.

Khanom jeen is something else entirely. These are round, soft rice noodles made from rice that is fermented before it is ground and pressed through a mould into boiling water, which gives them a faint, pleasant sourness. They are sold fresh in small coiled nests and eaten at room temperature, with a ladle of curry or sauce poured over and a basket of fresh herbs and vegetables alongside. Nam ya, a fish curry, and nam ngiao, the northern pork and tomato broth, are two of the best-known pairings.

Kuay jap is made from sheets of rice noodle cut into squares, which curl into little rolls as they cook. They are served in a dark, peppery broth with crispy pork belly, offal and boiled egg. In the northeast, a different dish shares the name: kuay jap yuan, with chewy round noodles in a clear pork broth, reflecting Vietnamese influence in the region.

Fresh or dried

In Thailand, many noodle shops use fresh rice noodles delivered daily. Outside Thailand, dried noodles are easier to find and keep for months, and for most dishes they work well. A few rules of thumb help:

Sen yai is best fresh. Dried wide rice noodles exist, but they lack the soft, slippery texture that makes pad see ew and rad na what they are.
Sen lek and sen mee are fine dried. Pad Thai is very often made with dried rice sticks, even in Thailand.
Ba mee is available fresh, frozen or dried. Fresh or frozen has the better bite.
Woon sen is always sold dried.
Khanom jeen is ideally fresh, though some Asian grocers sell it frozen or dried. Dried versions are boiled and rinsed before use.

Soaking and cooking

Most noodle problems at home come from overcooking. Rice noodles keep softening in the pan, so it is better to stop a little early. For stir-fries, the noodle should finish cooking in the wok, not before.

Dried sen lek for pad Thai: soak in room-temperature or lukewarm water until pliable but still firm at the centre, usually twenty to thirty minutes. Drain well. They will soften further as they absorb the sauce.
Dried rice noodles for soup: soak until pliable, then dip in a basket or sieve into boiling water for a few seconds to a minute, until just tender. Drain and put straight into the bowl.
Fresh sen yai: if the noodles have been refrigerated they will be stiff. Warm them briefly, either a few seconds in hot water or covered in the microwave, then gently peel the strands apart by hand before they go into the pan.
Woon sen: soak in water for about ten minutes until soft, then cut into shorter lengths with scissors. Cook briefly, as they turn gluey if boiled for long.
Dried egg noodles: boil according to the packet, loosening the nest with chopsticks as it softens, then drain.

For stir-fries, oil the drained noodles lightly so they do not stick together, and cook in small batches. A crowded pan steams noodles instead of searing them.

How to order a bowl of noodle soup

At a noodle shop, a bowl is built to order, and the cook will usually want to know three things: which noodle, which broth, and whether you want it with soup or dry.

The noodle. Sen yai, sen lek, sen mee, ba mee or woon sen. Some shops offer only one or two.
The broth. Nam sai is a clear broth. Tom yum is a hot and sour version, often with lime, chilli and ground peanuts. Nam tok, the broth of boat noodles, is darker and richer, traditionally thickened with a little blood. Yen ta fo is pink, coloured with fermented red bean curd, and usually comes with fish balls and morning glory.
Soup or dry. Nam means with soup. Haeng means dry: the noodles are tossed with seasoning and toppings, and a small bowl of broth comes on the side.

The topping is usually set by the shop, whether pork, beef, fish balls or duck. Once the bowl arrives, taste it before reaching for the condiment rack. Noodle soups are deliberately seasoned lightly so each diner can finish the job.

A starting point at home

Dried sen lek covers pad Thai and most soups, and a bag of woon sen covers salads and clear soups. Add fresh sen yai when you find it, and use it within a day or two.