Chim chum

A clay pot of herb broth on the table, with raw meat dipped in a few slices at a time.

Pork, Shellfish, Egg. Not vegetarian — contains fish sauce, pork, pork stock, shellfish.

Ingredients

the broth

• 1.5 litres pork stock
• 4 lemongrass stalks, bruised
• 60 g galangal, sliced
• 10 kaffir lime leaves, torn
• 4 coriander roots, pounded
• 3 tablespoons fish sauce
• 1 large bunch holy basil

the table

• 600 g pork neck, thinly sliced
• 300 g prawns
• 200 g glass noodles, soaked
• 4 eggs
• 400 g Chinese cabbage and morning glory

the sauce

• 4 tablespoons lime juice
• 3 tablespoons fish sauce
• 2 tablespoons palm sugar
• 2 tablespoons toasted chilli flakes
• 2 tablespoons toasted rice powder
• 4 garlic cloves, pounded

Method

1. A POT OF BROTH AND NOTHING GRILLED. The mu kratha on this site is a domed grill with a moat; this is the other kind of table cooking entirely -- an unglazed clay pot over charcoal, everything poached, and the broth drunk at the end.
2. AN UNGLAZED CLAY POT IS NOT A DETAIL. It holds a gentle even heat that keeps the broth at a shiver for an hour without boiling it away, which is what lets thin slices of pork stay tender. A metal pan over the same flame boils hard and toughens everything.
3. Soak a new clay pot in water overnight before its first use, and never put an empty one over heat.
4. Broth: everything except the basil simmered 20 minutes, then strained back into the pot. The aromatics have given what they have and whole lemongrass in a shared pot is a nuisance.
5. Basil in at the table, right at the start, so it scents the pot as it heats.
6. Sauce: pound the garlic, then stir in everything else. The rice powder thickens it after five minutes.
7. Make it sharp and hot. The broth is gentle and the sauce is what gives each mouthful its edge.
8. At the table, keep the pot at a bare simmer. A rolling boil is the one failure here: it toughens the pork and reduces the broth to something oversalted.
9. A few slices of pork at a time, 30 to 60 seconds. Vegetables and noodles as you go.
10. Crack the eggs in towards the end, and finish by drinking the broth, which by then has taken up everything cooked in it.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Thailand · All recipes