Wow I'm Mon American and this is the first time I see someone talking my ancestors' contributions on food more extensively 😔 Whenever people ask me where I'm from I say Myanmar or indigenous group from Myanmar if they ask me why I can't speak Burmese lol Anyways great video! Got me very hungry
Then come to Thailand. Thai people welcome all national. And there are Mon communities in many provinces here. Tai, Lao, Mon, and many nations moved to Siam and we blended all culture and live together within the same land, same King since the pass.
The Mon people will always have a special place in the Thai psyche. The Mon mixed with, married Tais and birthed the Thai people and culture, so the Mon are part ancestors of Thais and will always be counted as family.
This is killing me....I so miss the foods of Asia. And it’s amazing how through these videos, even if for a short time , I’m transported to a memorable time in my life where everything was new and mysterious.........this has been magical.....thank you OTR team.......
Such a nice comment. Yeah I think that pretty much distills down to exactly what this channel is- or at least what I hoped it would be. I'd completely forgotten what brought me to Asia (and into the restaurant game) after so many years. I don't know whether it was coming here, or getting out of the 18-hour-a-day grind, or a combination of it... but it's cool to find something I thought was long lost and remember why I/we fell in love with food in the first place.
Gary Butler says hey by the way, he's a big fan of yours as well. You just came up in conversation the other day. Can't wait to come down there at some point.
@@OTRontheroad That would be cool. Let's dive into Samui's culinary identity 😆 Btw... Gary was at our place just a few weeks ago and we had 'Gaeng Pung Plaa' as we call it here in our area. Well, it was intense... ☺
There's also a similar noodle dish in Cambodia called នំបញ្ជុក "Nom Banh Chok" Which is a beloved noodle dish for the Khmer people you can see this dish selling everywhere in Phnom Penh. It's served with a yellow-green coconut-based fish curry garnished with fresh herbs, seasonal vegetables, and edible flowers. Sadly there's no written record of this dish because of the genocide but this dish frequently mentions in many Khmer literature and folklore.
This reminds me of our Cambodian dish ‘nom banh chok’. The way I recognize is that we use seemingly the same kind of noodles. It’s generally served cold although I’ve had the ‘gravy’ warm sometimes. It’s a fish based gravy that is rustic and based a lot of its flavor of lemongrass. It’s also topped with julienned cucumbers and Thai eggplants. Fresh chilis can also be added. Having had Myanmar’s ‘Mohingya’, I found the taste extremely similar and I want to try all these versions to see and compare. Looks fascinating.
Great video. I tried 5/6 dishes at Khanomjeen Sanpakoi in Chiang Mai… and now I know their origins! Can’t wait to go try more. Green curry khanom jeen is possibly my favorite Thai food!!!
Another idea for future investigation by OTR team: Is there any relation or common root between laksa soup in Malaysia / Indonesia and khao-soi in Thailand ? They're quite similar and so yummy with bits of difference in topping selection.
No That is too far south. Khao soi and the northern curry noodle dishes like Lao's version called Khao poon (using the same noodles in the video) are by way of Burma/ Myanmar. The northern kingdoms were at one point and time usually under Burmese controll as vassel kingdoms. The only similarity in taste would be that its a curry dish and thats an influence from India.
@@yunniekal Mind you - there isn't just one "Laksa soup" in Malaysia, there are several. And they're very much different from each other. Khao Soi is more like Laksa Lemak or Laksa Johor than Penang Laksa. Nam Ya sounds very much like Laksa Lemak.
In Myanmar, We have this food called "mote lone yay paw" It's a ball of rice flour and a bunch of sweet stuff inside it. Eaten most of the time in Our nation's new year, "Thinggyan" celebrated in April. Try it lol!
Love the look of the green curry with Khanom jeen, but couldn't make out the name of the restaurant, something like Som Som, could you put map references into to your videos, I can see the Thai round eggplants in the curry but there's a lot more in there than in most I have come across and would love to know what else they have in their curry
Ok let me try. First place: ห้องอาหารสมทรง +66 61 971 1883 goo.gl/maps/WQ5Q5hvhQbTxmsrM7 Second/third (third is in the same alley): Jay Aew Khanom Chin +66 91 710 5845 goo.gl/maps/qZA9LyH5SDnDonPRA And the final place (after the Vietnamese and Burmese place): ร้านขนมจีนน้ำยาพริกแกงใต้ +66 83 659 4295 goo.gl/maps/4g7ZdsogwaWSZsr76
What we call the rice noodle put in mohinga is "mu n hpaat". The soups will be different according to the regions. You should come and visit after the crisis. There are thousands of delicious foods you should definitely try.😁
With a good kanom jeen shop, I love mixing nam prig and nam ya as a half-half on the same plate. But the nam prik that I usually eat is thicker than it's shown in the video, so I don't know if it would be good.
Hi , this kind of noodle looks like laksa noodle and I believe the portuguese play an important role here . In Indonesia there is a cookbook published in 1843 and there are some laksa recipe , one of them called " Portuguese Laksa " Singapore newspaper in 1800's published an import goods brought by portuguese ship from Macau to Singapore including dried laksa and vermicelli and from singapore the laksa were exported to Batavia ( now Jakarta ). And there were also a Dutch Indies record in 1700's in Batavia there were rules for laksa street vendor due to risk of fire. I have it in my channel just check it out , I recooked and I include the history too .
When it comes to Southeast Asian food, there are many similarities. For instance, Mie means noodles in Indonesian & also in Khmer (Cambodian). The noodles in this video is the same type of noodle that's used in Nom Ban Chok. Nom Ban Chok is a fish 🐟 noodle dish from Cambodia 🇰🇭 & the name is written in Khmer in the thumbnail of this video, នំបញ្ចុក 😁
That's correct re: Nom Ban Chok and the Khmer word in the thumbnail. However "mie" as explained in this video isn't really a clue to any commonality- that is actually improperly used for this type of noodle and is actually just a catch-all term derived from Hokkien Chinese.
Thanks for this highly informative video. Perhaps I am missing something, but I feel it was not made clear the difference between the two main types of rice noodles: Khanom Jeen and 'regular' rice noodles. I live in China, and only in Yunnan do you see this type of noodle: Mi Xian (米线). Go just one province to the right, Guangxi, and their signature noodle dish is Guilin Mifen. This is made, as the name suggests, from Mifen, not Mi Xian, and these illustrate the main two types of rice noodles: The more chewy, elastic rice noodle (eaten in most of south China), the Mifen, Hefen, Mee hoon, Bee Hoon; and the more fragile, easy-to-break noodle (found only in Yunnan and South East Asia), the Mi Xian, Khanom Jeen, etc. Anyway, you have clearly put a lot of research into this video and my faith in my preconceived noodle-ideas has been shaken. Based on the Thai name Khanom Jeen, I was convinced that the noodle had entered Thailand with Chinese traders in only the last 200 years or so. Now I feel I have to change my whole noodle-based world view, or perhaps I should say: My whole noodle-view needs to change.
Lol...it’s a totally different track- the Guilin mifen is basically the same thing (not basically, I suppose- it’s the same) as pho noodles, and also common in a lot of parts of Southeast Asia. That one DID spread pretty much as you said, around the 19th century through a more modern wave of immigration, and over land as it’s a pretty blurry line between Guanxi and Vietnam. Main difference is in how it’s produced- khanom jeen is pretty unique in being extruded from dough directly into boiling water. Makes a totally different (sticky, not slippery) texture. Where are you in China? I spent almost twelve years in the mainland. Touched on that a bit in a few of our other videos
@@OTRontheroad Yeah, I agree. The pho noodle is part of what I call the 'standard noodle', where khanom jeen / mixian belongs to the other category. I am still confused as to why the texture ends up so different. For the 'standard noodle' production process, 'Hot Thai Kitchen' a.k.a. 'Pailin's Kitchen' has a whole video where she visits a rice noodle factory. Process looks similar to how the HK dim sum 'Chang Fen' is made. I have always preferred rice noodles to wheat noodles (except when eating Italian food). I live in Shanghai, but I have traveled a fair bit around the country, mostly by bicycle in my 25+ years here.
Hi. I recently stumbled upon your channel and fell in love. One thing I have seen that there is a stark contrast with food from Bengal and Thailand and other neighbours. But there are similarities with South Indian food and food of these neighbouring countries. Why is that?
So a lot of the curries that are Indian-influenced came to Thailand by way of Malaysia. I'm not sure I'd say they are South Indian, so much as the use of coconut milk is a commonality between South India and the Malay peninsula- thus, Thailand. Bengali stews and curries are much lighter on sweetness- there's a lot more in common with what you'd find in northwest Thailand along the Burmese border- which makes sense based on over-land migration patterns. Just a theory.
Ok...let me try: Green curry place: ห้องอาหารสมทรง +66 61 971 1883 goo.gl/maps/8h3pS9Hw2VKxDsGm8 Khlong Toei food court: Jay Aew Khanom Chin +66 91 710 5845 goo.gl/maps/JuC5Nu1NCLEWvgPN6 The place we eat all the time with everything: ร้านขนมจีนน้ำยาพริกแกงใต้ +66 83 659 4295 goo.gl/maps/jqths6JDdZGu3im86 You can find plenty of places with good Bun Cha and Mohinga, the ones in this video are Vietnamese and More, and Mandalay Food House. Hope that helps!
Man if I had one disappointment with the food here (and that's compared to ten thousand awesome surprises) it's that gaeng pet pad yang is so hard to find. It's one of my all-time favorite foods and it's so rare to actually see it served
@@OTRontheroad yeah, you know the food 😁👍 Grilled Duck curry with pineapple, tomato and lychees in the curry. This is the best of the best Thai Modern Food.😁👍
9:26 that's "Tamil" written in white. This dish originated from chola Kingdom and was brought to the region by cholas. The tamil name for this is Idiyappam.
Absolutely not originally from the Chola kingdom- it's not even possibly disputable where it comes from as there's a ton of archeological evidence- but yes, please continue watching, we do cover Idiyappam later in the video. Certainly connected and also an ancient history.
@@OTRontheroad i understand your findings. The clue is in the rice. There is only one specific type of rice that gives the best flour to make these noodles. And that strand/variant comes from the cauvery delta ( it was called the ponni river in those days) . The Chinese noodle is from a different type of rice. Another clue is the civilization timeline - the technique of cultivating paddy in high water level areas pre-dates mon , Thai and malay people. This is mentioned in the stone tablet records at the Thai archeological archives. There is a difference in the dish though. There were more ingredients available in the malay belt and is hence served with various types of curry and in India it is served with less varieties. ..... Nevertheless, your channel is awesome. I don't mind if I am wrong. Give humans a grain, they will make a noodle, flat bread and pudding version of it. True credit goes to people who keep it alive. Keep it up OTR. Happy to keep it challenging.
I'll look deeper into that part of it but my understanding is that the technique was influenced by contact with the Mon, though it obviously took on unique local characteristics. And I personally feel like the Tamil/Sri Lankan Idiyappam is the best form of these noodles (specific to the noodles themselves) as the rice itself does lend a different character. So who knows- this was way before either of us were born- hah. But either way, I absolutely love it in South India and that certainly isn't meant to be any disrespect to that history.@@MyCUTboyz
@@OTRontheroad oh come on. Your work is superb. I never took it as a disrespect, I was merely adding to the story. I am sorry if I made you feel otherwise. On a different note, after WW2 lots of tamil people who settled in Burma came back to tamil nadu bringing new techniques and dishes from that region ( a case of reverse migration). So in Chennai they have the Burmese and Thai version of tamil dishes. Let me know if you want to jam on such stories.
So much overlap. Have actually for a long time been planning something where we cook the same curry in Burmese and Chettinad style and see if any differences.@@MyCUTboyz
ขนมจีน เพี้ยนมาจากภาษามอญว่า ขฺนํจินฺ (ခၞံစိန်) คำว่า คนอม หรือ ฮนอม (ခၞံ) แปลว่าแป้ง หากเป็นคำกริยาแปลว่าทำ หรือ สร้าง คำว่า จิน (စိန်) มีความหมายว่าสุก ดังนั้นดึงหมายถึงแป้งที่ทำให้สุก คำถามที่น่าสนใจคือทำไมต้องมีคำว่า"จิน" เพราะ"คนอม" เฉย ๆ ก็เพียงพอที่จะสื่อสารได้แล้ว จึงมีการสันนิษฐานว่า ขนมจีนมีวิธีการทำที่ยุ่งยาก ดังนั้นคำว่า "จิน" หรือ สุกจึงมีนัยสำคัญครับ นอกจากนี้เส้นขนมจีนแบ่งได้เป็น 2 ชนิด คือ ขนมจีนแป้งหมัก และ ขนมจีนแป้งสด ซึ่งถ้าเคยกินก็จะรู้ว่ารสชาติแตกต่างกันมาก Khanom Jeen (ขนมจีน), or Chinese noodles, possibly originated from the Mon language, which is called "Hanom Cin or Khanom Cin" (ခၞံစိန်). The word "khanom" or "Hanom" (ခၞံ) means flour, and as a verb, it means to make or create. The word "Cin" (စိန်) means cooked. Therefore, "Khanom Cin" refers to flour that has been cooked. An interesting question is why the word "Cin" is used, as "khanom" alone is sufficient to convey the message. It is speculated that this is because making Khanom Jeen is a complicated process, and thus, the word "Cin" or cooked carries significant meaning. Additionally, there are two types of Khanom Jeen: fermented and fresh noodles. Those who have tasted both will know that they have different tastes.
100%! I spent years in Sumatra and that's one of the first places we'd like to spend some time filming overseas to start to spread beyond Thailand. Can't wait to do a series from there.
@@OTRontheroad OMG! I didn't know you spent some time there! I'm from Java so most of my interaction with the island of Sumatra is through its delicious food. Man, you're probably more of an expert than me. So much interesting stuff there, culturally. Like How unique, herby and spicy Acehnese food is, or how unique the melting pots of India, Chinese and Malay in Medan. Can't wait!
@@Raditram Amazing. And yes, Aceh is definitely a stop we're planning, too. Crazy story- if we hadn't started OTR, my plan was to open a Nasi Padang restaurant in Bangkok. There's zero real Indonesian food in this city, which is insane. And I think the amazing visual of Nasi Padang would suit this place well. That almost actually happened but I did the channel instead
An isekai manga where the protagonist is some warrior from one of those original empires taking umbrage at the fact that his national dish is being served alongside the food of traitors and barbarians. He is completely and utterly insulted until they somehow manage to get him eating, then it's a stream of invective about how those troglodytes are entirely unsuited to make such good food...
You forgot one point. The only convenient way to eat a dish of noodle soaked in broth is by using utensils, either with fork and spoon or chopsticks. The natives of SEA were known to eat with their hands like the Indians.
8:05 - Wouldn't this Assam be in India? Incidentally, another name for "Mee Hoon" is "Mee Siam".. 😁 I always thought "Kanom" meant some sort of sweet snack, if you fly on Nok Air they'll hand out paper bags marked "Kanom" and there'd be something sweet inside (the time I flew it was Aunt Annie's soft pretzels..). Nam Ya sounds very much like a "Laksa" - some restaurants around here sell a "Thai Laksa" (or "Laksa Siam"), I'll bet a dollar to a dime it's this. Assignment for tomorrow - visit the mall and see what kanom jeen dishes I can find and have one for lunch.
Ah. I tried the Laksa Siam at "Mr. Tuk Tuk" (a chain of restaurants around here) and it turned out to be some variation of Penang Laksa. So I'm going to see if I can find the real Nam Ya in Bangkok.
Historically, it's the boiling process for khanom jeen which is completely absent for bee hoon. But today, almost no bee hoon noodles are actually made from rice flour, or at least 100% rice flour. It uses tapioca starch or corn starch or potato starch as an additive...you can tell from the texture and/or color. At least the thin variety.
The word Khanom Jeen in Thai descended from its original name in Mon: Kh'nom Jin. The two words appear homophone. Khanom in Thai means dessert and Jeen meen Chinese, which both are irrelevant to the food itself because it's not a dessert nor originated from China at all. The word Kh'nom in Mon means "being rolled into a chunk", the style that still remains in how they put the rolled noodles on banana leaves as stacked chunks. And Jin means just "cooked".
Hor mok or amok is a thai name we Cambodia name it after the thai but we have that kinda cooking before the tai aka siam just like some food Italian use the name after the American's italian food . But for this food is pretty khmer , and khmer and mon were the same family tree Cambodian called ourselves khmer mon race .
Mons are not the oldest people in southeast asia it was The Pyu people of Myanmar Pyu people had a great civilization even greater than the Mons if you don't believe me pls visit to Pyay. Mon cities didn't last that long most of the Mon cities are gone however Pyu Cities are massive some of them are 3000 year old and Pyu people like to make rice noodles. And also Mons and Pyu had a hate love relationship. However most of the time Mons were kinda aggressive to the Pyu 😊
The Pyu people do have an ancient history but as far as any archeological evidence is concerned, they arrived in the region 3000 years after the Mon- and came from the same area in Yunnan.
Ummm as far as linguistic evidence is confirmed, the first tibeto-burman tribes including pyu only began to settle in Myanmar in about the 4-5th century. Astroasiatic speaking people such as Mon-Khmer settlements predate them by a few centuries prior.
I would be very uncomfortable with the leaders of countries! I would much rather have a meal with you two, especially since I suspect we could have a much more interesting conversation about food and history, which all love.
Sir i appreciate your work in putting asean food out there alot , however u kinda discredited us alil bit khmer mon were pretty similar like the Scottish and irsh and thai isnt even the ayudthea city was khmer capital for centuries before tai arrival like the mon "ancient script" in the video u put i can read it pretty ez as a Cambodian. Im not demanding anything i saw the backlash u toke from the thai side who want to be seen as mon , but i wanna put it out there .
Khow nom Chine, Translate to Chinese candy5555. And Kow Tiel.. Thai pho translate to Banana Tiel.. I think tieu came. From Vietnam language..Like Tiel...Just go to Laos 🇱🇦 u fine how this noodles is made fresh starting from Scratch!!!
We SE Asian has rice culture because we can grow rice not wheat. While you European doesn't have this because you grow wheat so you have pastas and breads.
I've been thinking about connection between the rice vermicelli countries and i'm glad i found this video. In my culture (karen) we call this noodle khaw naw which is probably direct loan from Mon, instead of using the Burmese term mohinga
Thanks for the comment! I've been quite interested in looking into Karen food traditions as well. But yeah in this case- considering as far as I know, Hanom (or Khanom) was the ancient Mon term for "noodles" that would definitely make sense as a loan word
@@OTRontheroad naturally, it varies across regions. Fish paste is eaten widely in the lowland regions across Myanmar and Thailand (probably Mon-Khmer in origin and probably related to Padaek/Plara/Prahok). More traditional foods are hearty boiled foods like takapaw, grilled fish, meat stews and salads, jungle soups, boiled veggies ect more reminiscent of hilltribe food traditions.
Nam Ya Pla Chon & Nam Ngiao is a stapel in my Isan household. And once in a while you might even get a version with chicken feet. But, ..the best ones I've ever tasted was down in Phuket at Kanom Jeen Pa Mai.
Amazing. I'll add that to the must-try list when I'm in Phuket next time. For me, it's a lady inside the Warorot market in Chiang Mai. The best I've ever had by quite a bit for Nam Ngiao and some unbelievable nam phrik made from caramelized onion. Not sure the name of her stall, but it's got her face on the banner and people in the market seem to revere her
@@OTRontheroad In Chiang Mai that was unexpected! Since most people me included thinks about Khao Soi & Sai Oua, and maybe Hang Lay 😋. The nice thing about the Kanom Jeen place in Phuket, are that they have like 10 different versions of the dish.
Native from the Mekong delta came from China a very, very long time ago. Eventually everyone came from the Middle East if you go back far enough. There is always something before the “beginning”.
Khnom Chien was invented by one man. His name is Thon Chey in Cambodia. Thon Chey exists in Thailand as Sri Thanonchai or in Laos as Xien Mien, Trang Quynh in Viêtnam, and even Ida Talaga in Bali. Saga Dausa in Burma. His story is used as a communist propoganda piece against Royalty because he was a simpleton that out smarted the King(not so popular in Thailand.) He even brought Khnom Chien to the chinese emporor. Scholars also believed that Thon Chey was a play on Cheyavarman, after he absorbed a neighboring Mon Kingdom.
Wrong in the beginning, it wasn't one tribe that settled in Southeast Asia, it was multiple ethnic groups from different cultures, tribes and kingdoms. They spoke a mixture of Austro-asiatic, Tai Kadai and Sinitic languages, some of these groups were Han Chinese themselves, since Han kings and emperors set up kindgoms that incorporated parts of Southeast Asia, such as Nanyue.
The archeology would argue with you. The Han Chinese groups you reference are first proven to have arrived 3000 years after the first evidence of Mon settlements. It's just the archeological facts, not my opinions.
@@OTRontheroad No one is sure. whether it is Mon, Thai or Kinh people. What is sure, Nanyue was ruled by a Chinese General and many Han people migrated south during the Qin dynasty expansion bringing with them their cultures and ways.
yes. Vietnam was part of China. Not to mention althought Chinese didn't really rule SEA doesn't mean Chinese merchants weren't travelling to SEA@@Janovial
Lao cuisine has dishes similar to nam ya+khanom jeen with their varieties of khao poon nam pa/gai/other pounded protein. Khao=rice and poon is like bún or Canto fun (Mandarin fěn 粉). Guessing you knew that but didn't have time to mention every possible dish, but just bringing it up bc I was always curious about the dish's roots since iterations are also iconic in Lao cuisine. Definitely make sense that the noodles would have a much older origin in SE Asia with the suggestion of roots in ancient Mon food culture. Would you kindly say more about the peanut nam prik you show at 21:19. What all seems to be in it? Drooling over it and would love to replicate it to eat with khanom jeen.
I really wanted to include Khao Poon but the main reason I didn't is because I don't know if I've ever had it. MIGHT be going back to Laos in a week or two. Hope I can make that happen. Re: the peanut nam phrik, I'd guess ground peanut, shallot, garlic, fish sauce, palm sugar, chili...but that's also more-or-less describing Rojak so beyond that, I need go back there and try it again. I'm also curious where it's from. The cooks are from the south, but second-generation here in Bangkok.
I heard the story when Thai ran Sak Laos 🇱🇦 Vientiane..capture Laos princess and took to Bangkok..That's when Laos princess cook khow Phoon for Thai king..and they name it khow.nome Chin..
U said rice but what kind is it sticky rice...MY aunt cook fresh using sticky rice in Laos...back in the 80s...Laos call khow phoon..Khow in Laos means rice..if it's sticky rice. Who eat more sticky rice besides Laos 🇱🇦 people ..
Ermm sorry , King Taksin of Thonburi was nothing about Mon,actually he was Chinese. And his family not noble but he got talent to became lord of Tak (city) and when Ayuttaya has fallen down and shattered. He was the man who made a piece.
My wife from Mae Hong Son just says chinese noodles, How about a clip on Yum Paduk Foo my all time favorite. Where ever I go I always check out the dish. Not many places have it as it is hard to make and I have had some good and some not good at all.
I've also always been fascinated by the similarities between Kanom Jeen and Spaghetti. Not the same dish, but both are round noodles with a savory sauce. Was the concept imported then improvised and adapted to common ingredients of Europe? Perhaps.
noodles isnt a unique chinese invention. the kadazans have something called nanggiu, which are noodles traditionally made from pure sago flour and it's most commonly used in desserts.
I learned so much from this! There’s a style of noodle in south india made in a similar way (but steamed instead of boiled and I think the dough/batter is thicker)
Funny you talk about idiyappam/string hoppers, as those do happen to be among the different kinds of noodles found in South Asia asking with such as chickpea flour noodles & more such as ones you'd find in such meals as snacks & desserts (actually really interesting in its own right, falooda being such an example). That said, pho might be Vietnam's answer to mohinga (as recent as the former's origins are) both in terms of iconic status & even in terms of being mostly a breakfast dish along with an immense variety of neighboring dishes to connect them
Yes- my argument to that would just be how Pho seems to be so clearly related to southern Chinese mixian- which isn't a Mon/Khanom Jeen dish and has different origins. More likely, Pho is a mix of influences which is why it's so good.
That does sound likelier, heeding that mixian seems to be much lesser known & yet is an integral part of Yunnan foodstuff. Still, might the stuff of Yunnan be one of China's regions to take in heavier influences from the Indosphere extending to the foodways, but not as heavily as does Burma?
Buddhism didnt travel down from southern China with migrating tribes, they were anamist then. Buddhism arrived later from the east. Kanom jeen and gueng keiw wan is sublime.
@@OTRontheroadcan you try o-suan (oyster omelette) see if it is the same as in China? 😊 According to Google o-suan is Teochew dialect. O is oyster and Suan mean steam. Oyster omelette is soft, not crispy like mussel omelette.
