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Who doesn’t like Khao Soi? (recipe below!)

 

If you don’t know what “Khao Soi” is, you are in for a real treat, as we’ll be sharing our recipe with you! Khao Soi is a Northern Thai dish,most popular in Chiang Mai. Although it is not very well known to foreigners compared to other Thai dishes, it definitely deserves the recognition and love. You  won’t find it too often on a menu in a Thai restaurant outside of Thailand. But perhaps that makes it more special, a little hidden treasure of Northern Thailand.It is a favourite among both locals and tourists, and one of my personal favourites too – -soon to be yours as well.

 

So what exactly is this dish?  Khao Soi is a creamy rich coconut milk based curry broth,with egg noodles, and traditionally  served with chicken, but you’ll find it with pork and beef as well. To top it off, it is garnished with crispy deep fried egg noodles for that extra texture and crunch. However it doesn’t stop there, the condiments that come along with this dish take it a level further- -freshly diced shallots, cut up limes, pickled cabbage,and a chili oil that packs a lot of heat, but it is so good and worth the extra tissues and gulps of water you may need.

 

Condiments play a big role in Thai food, especially noodle based dishes, as it allows you to season your dish to satisfy your own taste buds. Most common condiments will cover the four important flavour profiles in Thai cuisine, sweet, salty, sour and spicy. For example if you ordered ‘Pad Thai’ a more known Thai noodle dish, you would get condiments that consist of :fish sauce ( salty), cut up limes (sour), chili flakes (spicy) ,sugar (sweet) and crushed peanuts.

 

Chiang Mai is famous for Khao Soi, and you can’t leave without having tried it first, it’s a must! Although it is mainly connected to the  North of Thailand, the origins of the dish are quite complex. It is believed that the dish’s roots stem from the ‘Chin Haw’, who were Chinese Muslim traders from Yunnan, who traveled and formed a trade route along Laos, Thailand and Burma. However there are others who say the dish was adapted from a Burmese dish called “ohn no khao swè” which shares a lot of similarities, with  “khao swè” meaning noodle in their language. Perhaps the dish evolved through the influences of both cultures coming together through the decades. However Khao Soi came to be, we are happy it exists!

 

So now, to the good part, how is Khao Soi made? Everyone makes it a little different, but they all share similar characteristics. Most recipes you see online will tell you to make your chili paste from scratch, and although this is a great way to go about it, especially if you love to cook and want to know what’s in the actual paste, it’s not always easy for people to find all the ingredients you need for it, depending on where you live. For that reason we will be using a red curry paste in our recipe, which most people can find in their Asia shops. We will share a Khao Soi chili paste recipe on one of our future blogs, so be sure to follow us so you don’t miss out !

 

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Cooking should be fun and enjoyable, so we’ve keep this recipe fairly easy to ensure you’re left with a delicious Khao soi at the end. Remember all recipes are a bit different, but this is our recipe from the Secret Garden Chiang Mai, and we hope you enjoy it.

 

Here’s what you’ll need: ( portion for two people)

 

For the curry:

– 100 grams of chicken breast cut in slices

– Egg noodles ( preferable the thick ones)

– 1/2 Tbsp of red curry paste ( Called “prik gaeng pet” in Thai)

– 250 ml coconut milk

– 1 Tbsp Sugar

– 1 Tbsp light soy sauce

– 1/2 tsp yellow curry powder

– 1/2 Tbsp of Oyster sauce

– 2 Tbsp Sunflower oil

– 50 ml water

 

For the Condiments:

– Limes

– Small shallots

– Chili powder/flakes

– Coriander

– Pickled Cabbage

 

Directions:

 

1) In a pot, add your Sunflower oil and put it on a low flame. Add your red curry paste to it, and give it a bit of a stir so that the curry paste isn’t clumped up and spread out nicely. It is important that you put this on a low flame as the curry paste can very easily burn and go bitter.  * don’t use olive oil as a substitute for Thai cooking, it gives the dish a completely different taste*

 

2)After about 40 seconds you’ll start to smell the the aromas of the curry and notice that the paste looks like it’s split and the oil will have taken on an orangey colour. This is when you add your chicken slices,curry powder, oyster sauce and soy sauce. Stir them all together for about a minute, so that the chicken is nicely coated in the paste and sauces. We don’t want the chicken to fully cook through, we just want it to be mixed with the ingredients. * traditionally you would use chicken legs or thighs, which you can do, but you would need to cook the curry for longer then.*

 

3)Add your coconut milk and then sugar. At this point your curry will still look quite pale with some of the oil from the paste floating on top, but don’t worry, that’s normal. Add 50 ml of water to dilute the coconut milk a bit. Leave it to cook for about 10 minutes-15 minutes on a medium flame.

 

4)  While the curry is cooking,prep your egg noodles.Usually when you buy egg noodles they’ll be coated in flour. For the noodles that go into the curry, you’ll want to shake off the flour and give the noodles a rinse. Leave these until you are almost ready to dish up. —–For the crispy egg noodles that go on as a garnish, also shake off the flour but don’t rinse these. In a pan add in sunflower oil and put it on a low to medium flame. Don’t put in all the noodles at once, fry them in small amounts separately. You want them to be a yellow to golden brown. Place them on a paper towel to get rid of the excess oil, and set aside until you’re plating.

 

5) Prep your condiments: Dice up your shallots, cut your limes in wedges, and chop up pickled cabbage. For the chili oil, get a small pan, and add about 3 Tbsp of sunflower oil along with 2 Tbsp of dried chili flakes on a low flame. You may want to open your windows, or be sure to have your extraction fan on, because this part will definitely make you a cough a bit otherwise. You’ve been warned!  Fry until it’s gone a dark brown, about 1 minute. Be careful not to over-fry as it can also go bitter.

 

6) Fill a pot with water and bring to boil to prep for the egg noodle cooking before plating

 

7) Check on your curry, this is where you need to taste and see if you’d like to adjust the flavour a bit. If you want it more sweet, add more sugar, if you’d like it more salty add more soy sauce, and if you think it needs a more of a curry punch, add some more curry powder. If you’re happy with it, put it on a low flame and have it simmer.

 

8)Boil your egg noodles. Should roughly take about 3 minutes. Take note of how the noodles slowly go from a solid yellow to a more translucent look. Make sure to not overcook as you want the noodles to have a bit of a bite. When straining the noodles, rinse with cold water to stop noodles from cooking any further.

 

9)Dish up! In a bowl, put in your egg noodles and add your curry broth. Finish it off by garnishing with the crispy egg noodles. Adding condiments is recommended, especially the chili oil and a squirt of lime.

 

** Just a small note for vegetarians – – you can easily make this dish and substitute the oyster sauce with mushroom sauce – – add in all the veggies you like, but I suggest leaving out the sugar until last, as the veggies can sometimes already have a natural sweetness.

 

And there you have it our Khao Soi recipe,we hope you enjoy it just as much as we do.Make sure to subscribe to our blog for future recipes. Let us know if you tried out this recipe or send us a picture!

 

 

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Tags: coconut, noodles, recipe, soup, Thailand