Yen Ta Fo

This is one of those assemble-your-own dishes, you can add as much or as little of the ingredients as you like. Prepare all the ingredients and place in separate dishes; guests can then assemble theirs the way they like it, adding more, or less, of each ingredient. The Yen Ta Fo sauce makes this dish (which you unfortunately can't quite see in the picture), the combination of the preserved bean curd and the preserved garlic give an intriguing salty vinegary taste; too, it is quite red, even redder when made in Thailand. If you like, and don't have a chicken carcass on hand, you can substitute either some chicken legs or thighs or breasts, or use chicken stock (just add the other ingredients and bring to a boil; cook for a few minutes for the flavours of the other ingredients to infuse the stock).

Yen Ta Fo
1/4 pkg Rice Flat noodle per person
1/2 lb morning glory
7 Shrimp per person
3-4 Fish ball per person
6 half pieces Puffy Fried Tofu per person
6 Fried wonton wrap per person
1 Tbsp Fried garlic per person
Sliced Coriander and Spring onion, as garnish
ground white pepper, to taste
1/4 lime per person
1/2 tsp sugar per person
1 bird's eye chili per person, sliced then crushed in a mortar and pestle
Yen Ta Fo Sauce (see below for recipe)
Chicken Soup (see below for recipe)

Blanch noodle and morning glory. Place in individual large soup bowls, the morning glory on the noodles.

Blanch shrimp 3-4 minutes, till red and cooked. Blanch fish balls and fried puffy tofu for 2-3 minutes, until warmed through. Arrange all on noodles. Add Yen Ta Fo Sauce on top of noodles, about 2-3 tablespoons.

Add, as desired, soup, fried garlic, sugar, sliced coriander, spring onion, white ground pepper, ground chili, lime juice and fried wonton wrap (to fry, fold wonton wrappers in half and fry in oil until golden brown).

Mix all together before eating.

Yen Ta Fo Sauce
3 pieces preserved bean curd
1/3 cup tomato sauce (not ketchup)
3 Tbsp preserved garlic water and crushed preserved garlic
1 tsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt

Grind preserved bean curd and mix together with the rest of the ingredients. It should taste salty; if not, add more salt.

Chicken Soup
Chicken carcass
big chunk of daikon
4-5 crushed garlic cloves
1/2 Tbsp fish sauce
1/2 Tbsp Golden Mountain seasoning sauce

Add water in the pot; heat on high. Wait until the water is boiling, then put in chicken carcass. Once the water is boiling again, add daikon, crushed garlic cloves and season with fish sauce and Golden Mountain seasoning sauce. Let it boil on medium heat (high heat will make the soup cloudy) for 45 minutes to one hour.