Thai Pork & Tomato Curry Noodles (Kanom Jeen Nam Ngiew)

If the pork ribs come in a long strip, cut in between the bones to separate them. If there are meat-only parts, cut them down to ½ inch thick slices. Place the ribs in a large pot and cover with the stock or water.

Add the fish sauce and sugar and bring to a simmer. Once the ribs come to a simmer, adjust the heat to maintain a gentle simmer for 1.5 hours. While the ribs are cooking, make the curry paste and cook the ground pork. TIP: Start making the curry paste right away as we want to add it to the ribs as early as possible to give them plenty of time to simmer with the curry paste.

To make the curry paste, grind the dried chilies into a powder using a coffee/spice grinder.

If using an immersion blender, place all remaining curry paste ingredients into a glass measuring cup, putting moist/liquid ingredients on top. Blend into a fine paste, lifting and changing position as you go, and stopping to scrape the sides once in between. Then add the dried chilies and blend to mix.

If using a mortar and pestle, first pound the lemongrass, galangal, and cilantro stems into a fine paste. Then add the garlic and shallots and pound into a fine paste. Add the ground chilies, shrimp paste and tao jiew and pound to mix.

In a wok or a large skillet, add the oil over medium high heat then add the curry paste. Saute constantly for about 3 minutes until the paste is aromatic. Add the ground pork and cook, breaking up the lumps, until the ground pork is is no longer clumpy, though it doesn’t need to be fully cooked. Remove from heat.

Pour the ground pork mixture into the ribs pot, and keep it simmering together until the ribs have had a total simmering time of 1.5 hour. *The ribs should have at least 45 minutes to simmer WITH the curry paste mixture. If you were late to add the curry paste, extend the cooking time to give the ribs the 45 minutes.

After the ribs are done simmering, add the blood cubes (or liver, if using) and tomatoes, and simmer gently for another 3-4 minutes until the tomatoes are soft but still intact.

Taste and adjust seasoning with more fish sauce or tao jiew as needed. It should be salty and umami with a little sweetness to balance, and make sure it is strongly seasoned as the noodles will dilute it. It should also have plenty of liquid, enough to be "soupy," so if it has become too dry, you can top it up with a bit of water. Ideally, serve nam ngiew the next day so the flavours have time to mingle.

Cook the noodles by adding them to boiling water and cooking for about 7-10 minutes for dry noodles, and 2-4 minutes for pre-soaked noodles. Timing varies depending on the size so check them often; they should be tender with a slight chew but they should not be al dente. Meanwhile, prepare a large bowl of cold water for the noodles to cool.

Once done, scoop them out and place them into the cold water to stop the cooking. Drain into a colander and immediately divide them into serving bowls while they’re still wet and easy to separate.

To serve, ladle a generous amount of nam ngiew broth over the noodles, then top with any toppings of your choice. You can squeeze a little lime onto your plate for an extra zing.