refreshing orange and ginger Thai noodles

This beloved recipe is not from my travels in Thailand: I adapted it from a great cookbook, which I unfortunately don’t have the name of at this time (it’s packed away in Canada).

The combination of fresh ginger, juicy chunks of orange, and aromatic greens (either garlic greens, chives, or spring onions) creates another light, rejuvenating meal.

As with Chinese cuisine, this dish will be extremely fast and easy to prepare if you organize your ingredients (including cooking the noodles and eggs) as a first step, putting them all out, ready to be added quickly to the wok/pot, as in the accompanying photo.

When using flat Thai rice noodles, I usually boil water, turn off the heat, and add the noodles, leaving them in the water until they feel al dente. In this photo, I used round Vietnamese rice noodles (the only option I had), and they worked very well (seeing as there isn’t any sauce in this dish that needs to stick to a broader surface), though they take much longer to cook (I had to boil them, not just leave them in water). If you leave the Thai noodles in hot water too long, they’ll fall apart; be sure to rinse them in cold water after softening them, to ensure they stop cooking.

I like to make the eggs salty, strongly contrasting with the sweetness of the oranges, and bringing out the flavour of the other ingredients. Shrimp also works great in this dish, marinated for a few minutes in chili, a bit of juice from the orange, garlic, ginger, sugar and salt. If you want to make it vegan, you could replace the eggs with semi-firm tofu, lightly frying the outside crispy with garlic before throwing it in. The variations are endless; this is more of an inspiration than a fixed recipe!

orange and ginger thai noodles

Thai (or other) rice noodles, fresh red chili, chopped garlic, chopped ginger, a touch of sugar, bean sprouts, fish sauce, eggs, salt, oranges cut into bite size chunks, toasted sesame seeds, chopped garlic greens or chives or spring onions, crushed roasted peanuts (optional, i prefer this one without)

– boil water, cook rice noodles as described above, rinsing in cold water to stop them from overcooking
– heat a bit of oil and garlic in a frying pan, beat the eggs and salt together, cook lightly, breaking into smaller pieces in the pan while remaining moist (they will continue to cook when thrown into the final dish, and shouldn’t be too dry)
– in a wok or pot, heat a bit of oil on medium with ginger, garlic, chili; when you can smell the ginger, add the bean sprouts, then a minute later, add the noodles, sugar, and fish sauce (fish sauce can be quite strong, so add very little to start, maybe half a teaspoon if making enough for two)
– throw in the aromatic greens, orange, eggs, and sesame seeds, reserving a bit for decoration (throw the peanuts in at this point as well if you’re using them)
– mix well for a couple minutes, taste with a piece of egg, orange and noodle, adjust salt and fish sauce if necessary
– serve warm or cool, and enjoy!!