Popular as one of signature Chiangmai's foods, Khao Soi is a curry noodles dish originated in northern part of Thailand.It is a spice laden noodles dish made with Chinese flat egg noodles, (Mee pok,麵薄) accompanied with pickled mustard green, shallot, lime and chili powder fried in oil, served in a curry-like thick sauce. Chicken thigh or beef shank are usually added as a source of protein. If you have ever been to Chiangmai, I am pretty sure you have tried or at least heard of it.
Making Khao Soi is very easy. The sauce of Khao Soi is somewhat similar to red curry but it is thinner and milder. If you have no access to Khao Soi paste, you can always cheat with red curry paste. You just need to add turmeric powder and shallots to bring more aroma to the sauce.
The only challenging part for me is to find the flat egg noodles. After searching for them high and low for 2 weeks, I gave up. Then I tried substituting with egg fettuccine. While fettuccine are always perfect base for rich sauce made with heavy cream, they are a bit too thick and not able to absorb the good taste of the Khao Soi sauce at all. They tasted so wrong.
So today I decided to give another try with ramen noodles. Ramen noodles worked much better than fettuccine and Khao Soi sauce with ramen noodles were really tasty but still tasted a bit different. However, it is the best substitution I can think of so far. Hope I find toothsome and bouncy Chinese flat egg noodles someday in Tokyo.
Quick and easy Khao Soi recipe.
Ingredients
400 ml. coconut milk
400 ml. water
500 grams chicken (any part will do)
2 tablespoon red curry paste
1 tablespoon turmeric powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon Thai light soy sauce
1/2 tablespoon Thai sweet soy sauce
4-5 shallots, lightly pound
1 ginger, lightly pound
ramen noodles
some deep fried ramen noodles (optional)
chili powder fried in oil
some shallots, sliced thinly
a lime wedge
pickled mustard green, sliced
Method
1. Add the coconut milk in the pot. Bring to the boil. Add in red curry paste, stir to combine.
2. Add in turmeric powder, ginger and shallot.
3. Add in chicken and water.
4. Cook over the low heat until the chicken is cooked and the sauce is thicken. Season with salt , light soy sauce, sweet soy sauce. Ladle the sauce over the cooked noodles. Serve with chili powder fried in oil, pickled mustard green, a lime wedge and top with some deep fried noodles. Enjoy!!
2 comments
I love this curry dish with noodles. Where do you find the pickled mustard greens or did you make them yourself? Looks delicious.
ReplyDeleteHi Suzi!
ReplyDeleteI never make mustard greens at home. I usually get them from Asian Supermarkets in Tokyo. I think you should be able to find them in the US, UK and in many countries. Have a nice day!