Thai Yum Woon Sen Recipe | Spicy Glass Noodle Salad

Yum Woon Sen – Spicy Mun Bean Noodles Salad

Prepare Yum Woon Sen (ยำวุ้นเส้น)

1) The Meat

• Minced Pork or Chicken – 200g (cook with 1 tsp. stock powder and 1 cup of water).
• Cooked Mixed Seafood – 200g.
• Bean Vermicelli Noodles – 80g.

2) The Vegetables

• Mixed Cut Coriander, Spring Onion, and Parsley – 1/4 cup.
• Tomatoes – 1/4 cup, cut.
• Onion, Purple Onion, and Carrot for the Color – 1/4 cup, mixed and sliced.
• Chili and Garlic – chopped, and as much as you like. Some people use pickled garlic so that you get some sour and sweet taste, I don’t like that taste and I rarely cook food that would use pickled garlic. Maybe, it is just once a year?, so I skip it.

3) Yum Woon Sen Dressing

• Fish Sauce – 2 tablespoons.
• Lime Juice – 2 tablespoons.
• Sugar – 1 teaspoon.

Cooking Instructions:

1. Heat up 1 cup of water, add 1 tsp stock powder, and cook minced pork on high heat for 5 minutes or until it is cooked.
2. Remove the cooked minced pork and add to a mixing bowl. Leave some of the soup in the cooking pot, we will need to use it to cook the vermicelli noodles.
3. Now, add 2 tbsp. fish sauce, 2 tbsp. lime juice, 1 tsp. Sugar. Mix until the sugar is dissolved. Usually, it will be quick since the soup from stock is still hot enough to melt the sugar.
4. Add chili and garlic as much as you like.
5. Add cut coriander, spring onion, and parsley. Then, add cut tomatoes, sliced onions, purple onions, and carrots. At this step, you can decide how much you want to add. It doesn’t have to be the exact amount from the recipe.
6. Add seafood.
7. Now, it is time to change the taste more toward what you like. If you like more sour add lime. If you want it to be saltier? Add fish sauce. Go slow, add a little amount at a time until you find the right taste for yourself.
8. Now, cook the vermicelli noodles in boiling stock water (add more water and more stock powder if needed.)
9. Add a little bit of fish sauce to flavor your cooked noodles.
10. After that, quickly mix everything together before the noodles get soggy. Your Yum Woon Sen Talay is now ready! 🙂
11. There is a detailed cooking video at the bottom of this page if you want to clearly see how to cook this yummy Seafood Spicy and Sour Salad with vermicelli noodles.

Today at lunch, I made our Thai food favorite at our office, Yum Woon Sen, for the first time after a long time. I like to add a lot of vegetables and make it more sour and spicy than usual. The color is so red because I crushed the pepper really good. 🙂

To make it red like in the picture but keep the same spicy level, cut the red pepper in half and then throw away the seeds. Some restaurants in Thailand use hot sauce to make it red, but I never tried it. I think the hot sauce will change the Yum Woon Sen and make it taste strange.

Note from Hubby about Yum Woon Sen (First time eating)

I first had Yum Woon Sen in Tampa, Florida at a Thai restaurant. I wanted to try something new because I had already bought my one-way ticket to fly to Thailand and I knew I was going to have to get used to the food for the year I was planning on being here.

All I knew at the time was Tom Yum Soup and Pad Thai Noodles! Well, the cook at the Thai restaurant knew to dumb it down for me a bit and take the spice out. They also made it a bit sweet for me, and not so sour. There was only 1 chili cut up in mine.

I liked Yum Woon Sen immediately. Little did I know, I was in for a shock once I arrived in Thailand and got my first true Thai version of the dish. It was very spicy, and very wet, and the vegetables were so perfectly done. It was so much better than it was in the USA.

I love spicy food, and this was definitely spicy, but eventually, I got used to it.

If you’re afraid you might not get used to the level of spice in the country, I would say that you shouldn’t worry. Just tell everyone NO chilis. Mai ow prik na krup (na ka, if you’re a woman). It will STILL be spicy, because

Thais just don’t know how to make anything that is supposed to have chilis – with at LEAST one chili in it, but you’ll get used to it and soon you’ll be eating it like me.

I like it so hot, that when they ask, I say, “Pedt silop suh lai.” It means, make it so hot that I fall into a coma. Sometimes they actually do make it that hot! Be careful what you ask for.

Come to Thailand and taste authentic Thai food! I’m trying to get Joy to teach classes to visitors who want to learn how to make a couple of dishes during their vacation. I hope she goes for it and quits her other job! – Vern

Thai Food Classics

• Som Tam – Spicy Papaya Salad
• Tom Yum Soup
• Pad Thai Noodles