This kai kua map will make it easier for others like me, singleminded in their pursuit of the kai kua holy grail.

East Coast:

SriPraPhair, Woodside Queens, NY – I have had the kai kua here, which appears in their menu under the name Gai-kua, and I can verify that it is indeed the bees knees. Could have used a bit more chx and squid, but otherwise was as close to my archetype as I have found. Interestingly, this restaurant did not have the same chili garlic sauce commonly found in Thai restaurants. They had Sriracha, and they had mashed and diced chilis. Despite this anomoly (I am but a poor white boy, what do I know of Thai?), I trust this place, as my Thai friend who took me there said they had many authentic Thai dishes on their menu (You don’t even have to demand in Thai that they give you the “real stuff”!

Taste of Thai Express, Ithaca NY – Holy grail. My first Kai Kua experience, unbeatable, never repeatable, delicious, huge portion, lots of squid, chix, saucy noodles, on a bed of happy crisp lettuce… Madre de Dios I wish I was there right now.

Thai Corner, Amherst, MA – I have had this. It’s on the menu as “guay tiew kua”, and it didn’t come with squiddy, but they added it for a fee, and it was then a decently honorable, though a bit dry, representation of the TRUE ONE.

Midwest:

Cool Basil, Clive Iowa – Have not been. However, I’ll be four hours East of Clive in a couple of weeks, and I’m just tempted enough to try to make the drive if I can get there before they close for the evening.

West Coast:

Thai Boom, Los Angeles, CA – Have not been, but have heard from a reliable source that their kai kua is top tip.

As you can see from my post where I tried three different kai kua sauces, the simplest sauce was the best. All you need for a great kai kua sauce is chx broth, soy sauce, oyster sauce, fish sauce, and garlic. But the problem I had with that one was the overpowering color and flavor of the dark soy sauce I was using.

In the kai kua how-to videos I saw on Youtube, one thing that stood out for me (aside from the crap-ton of MSG they added) was that they didn’t use soy a lot of sauce, and they used salt. So I decided to lower the amount of soy, and add salt to my recipe. The result: c’est magnifique! Or however you might say that in Thai.

So here is my perfect kai kua sauce recipe.

4 TB oyster sauce
3 TB fish sauce
1 TB soy
2 tsp salt
1 TB garlic chopped fine
1/3 cup chx broth.

This sauce is perfect for the proportions of ingredients listed in the kai kua recipe I have posted here.

And so far I’ve failed three times.

Here they are:

the first was a recipe for a savory thai garlic sauce I found online. It goes like this:

1. savory Thai garlic sauce recipe:

1/3 cup chicken broth
1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon chili paste (sambal oelek) (optional)
1 tablespoon dry sherry or sake
1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil
9 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 teaspoons minced ginger
10 Thai chiles, stemmed and left whole (optional)
1 tablespoon cornstarch
3 tablespoons water

In a small bowl, mix together chicken broth, vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, chili paste, garlic, and sherry; set aside.

In another small bowl or cup, stir together the tbsp of cornstarch with the 3 tbsp of water and set aside.

Stir the first bowl in with the cooked ingredients, cook for a minute, then stir in the corn starch bowl.

conclusion: this sauce, comprised largely of chicken broth with small minority stakes of soy, fish, and oyster sauces was pretty much flavorless. If anything, I’ double if not treble the soy fish and oyster sauces on my next attempt.

2. guay teow pad se-iew sauce:

1    garlic clove, minced
1    egg, beaten
1 tb cornstarch / cornflour
1 tb wine
1 tb fish sauce (nam pla)
1 tb oyster sauce
1 tb sugar
1 ts oriental sesame oil
1/2 ts white pepper

Mix together all the ingredients and stir into cooked ingredients.
Conclusion: way too sweet, for one thing. but also largely flavorless. Plus, the egg in the sauce really threw the cosistency of my kai kua. Next time, I’d skip the sugar, go heavier on the oyster and fish sauces, heavier on the salt, and skip the egg.

3. Off the Cuff

For the third sauce I thought I’d just wing it and see if I could do any better going with my instinct. Amounts are complete guesses.

3 TB oyster sauce
3 TB fish sauce
3 TB soy.
1 TB garlic
1/3 cup chx broth.

Conclusion: this was in my opinion the best sauce, though my wife thought it overpowered the ingredients. I agree qualifiedly: I think that I’ve been overdoing the soy, which has been giving the kai kua the darker cast than I’ve had in restaurants. Instead of soy next time I’m just going straight for the salt (this is, btw, what I’ve seen in thai cooking video tutorials, it just seemed kinda blasphemous).

Ingredients:
1.5 lb flat wide rice noodle
10 oz skinless boneless chicken breast, finely sliced
3 eggs
4 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
3 tablespoons oil
3 green onions, finely sliced
½ tablespoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon dried radish
Lettuce to garnish

Preparation : Place a wok or large deep frying pan over the high heat. Add oil, chicken, and stir-fry until chicken is cooked through about 2 minutes. Stir in eggs, noodle, and continue to cook about 1 minute. Add soy sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, dried radish, and stir fry for a further 1-2 minutes. Toss in green onion, season with pepper, and cook stirring about 1 minute. To serve, garnish with lettuce.

Char kway teow has a reputation of being unhealthy due to its high saturated fat content. However, when the dish was first invented, it was mainly served to labourers. The high fat content and low cost of the dish made it attractive to these people as it was a cheap source of energy and nutrients. When the dish was first served, it was often sold by fishermen, farmers and cockle-gatherers who doubled up as char kway teow pedlars in the evening to supplement their income.

In Indonesia, the dish is served in Chinese restaurants and traveling street hawker, and locally known as Kwetiau Goreng (Indonesian: fried Kwetiau). The Indonesian char kway teow is less oily, it uses no lard, and normally uses beef or chicken to cater the majority of Muslim population. But some Chinese restaurants in Indonesia do serve the pork and lard variety.