Khao Soi: Thai Curry Noodle Soup

• 份量: 4
• 活動時間: 40 mins
• 總時間: 1 hour 40 minutes

食材

**Curry Paste:**

Black cardamom pods - 3

Coriander seeds - 1.5 tbsp

Ginger, thinly sliced - 20g

Fresh turmeric, thinly sliced - 5g (or substitute 1 teaspoon Thai ground turmeric)

Small Thai onion, roughly chopped - 80g

Dried chilies - 20g

Salt - 0.5 tsp

**Noodle Soup:**

Khao soi Curry Paste - (from above)

Coconut milk, plus extra for drizzling - 375ml

Chicken drumsticks - 8

Water - 750ml

Light soy sauce - 50g

Dark soy sauce - 15g

Fish sauce - 10g

Palm sugar, finely shaved - 5g (add extra if needed when seasoning)

Flat fresh egg noodles, divided in 4 portions - 350g

**To Serve:**

Coriander leaves Chopped Spring onion, finely sliced

**Sides:**

Lime, cut into cheeks or wedges - 2

Thai onion, finely sliced mixed with Spring onion - finely sliced

Pickled mustard greens, roughly chopped

Fried chilli flakes

步驟

**Curry Paste:**

Smash the cardamom pods in a mortar and pestle (or something else heavy) and remove the seeds. Put the coriander seeds in a small frypan and bring to a high heat moving them constantly so they don't burn for 1 minute. Add cardamon seeds, also moving them constantly, until the coriander seeds darken slightly. Remove and set aside.

In the same frypan on a high heat, add the ginger and turmeric slices and let them sear until slightly charred, about 2-3 minutes. Then flip and char the other side and remove from the pan. (See video for what this charring should look like.)

Remove the stems from dried chilies and use scissors to cut them into chunks, pouring out the seeds as you cut them. Try to remove as many seeds as possible but it is OK if you do not get every seed out. Add the chilies to a coffee/spice grinder along with the black cardamom and coriander seeds and grind into a powder, remove and set aside.

In the small food process blend the ginger and turmeric slices into a fine paste. Then add the small Thai onion, salt and the ground spices and blend until a fine paste.

**Noodle Soup:**

1 In a medium pot, add 120 ml of the coconut milk and bring to a boil over medium heat. Add the curry paste and stir to dissolve, then keep stirring for a few minutes until the mixture is very thick and coconut oil starts to sizzle around the edges of the paste. (If the paste is very thick and the coconut oil has not sizzled, this is okay, you can move on.)

2 Add the remaining coconut milk and stir to dissolve the curry paste. Then add water, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, fish sauce and palm sugar, and the chicken drumsticks. Bring to a simmer, then turn the heat to low and let simmer gently for about 40 minutes or until the drumsticks are fork tender. Keep the simmer gentle as we do not want the soup to reduce too much. While the chicken is simmering, make the crispy noodles and/or prepare the condiments.

3 Once the chicken is done, taste and adjust seasoning with more fish sauce, salt, fish sauce or palm sugar if needed. Make sure the broth is strongly seasoned as it will dilute slightly once the noodles are added. If it has become salty from reducing too much, simply add more water.

**Fried Noodles:**

1 Separate one quarter, about 85g of the noodles for frying. Loosen them and shake off excess flour, then use scissors to cut them a few times so they are about 8-10 cm long.

2 Heat 5cm deep of frying oil in a pot and bring to 175 °C.

3 Turn the heat down to medium-low and add a SMALL handful of noodles (they will expand A LOT) into the oil and press the noodles down as they fry to submerge them. Fry until the noodles are golden brown AND the bubbling is almost gone. Remove and drain on a paper towel and repeat with the remaining noodles.

4 No bubbling means noodles are crispy so you want to wait until the bubbles are almost gone before you take them out. If the noodles are browning faster than the bubbles, it means your heat is too high.

**Chili Flakes:**

1 Add any amount of spicy chilli flakes to a small pot and add just enough neutral flavoured oil so the chili flakes look like wet sand.

2 Turn the heat on medium low and keep stirring until the chilies start to darken and smell smoky, should happen in just a few minutes. Transfer into a small bowl immediately to stop the cooking.

**To Serve:**

1 Loosen the remaining noodles and shake off any excess flour.

2 Bring a large pot of water to a full boil on high heat.

3 Once the water is boiling, add the noodles and cook until they are done - this will vary from brand to brand so if you're not sure, keep checking them every minute or so. (As a reference, the flat noodles shown in the video take 3 minutes.)

4 While the noodles are cooking, and if you're cooking multiple servings, prepare a mixing bowl for the cooked noodles to go into, and add about a tablespoon of oil into the bowl to help the noodles separate. (If we have garlic oil ie. vegetable oil infused with garlic, use it!)

5 Strain the noodles out, shaking off any excess water. Add them into the bowl with oil. Toss the noodles in the oil, then divide the noodles into serving bowls.

6 Place 1 to 2 chicken drumsticks into each bowl, then ladle the hot curry broth over them. Drizzle 1-2 tablespoons of coconut milk on top which also adds a little richness.

7 Top with a handful of the crunchy noodles and some chopped coriander and spring onions.

8 Serve with all the condiments.

筆記

You can also use an immersion blender to make the curry paste as shown in my red curry paste recipe, but you will need to double the recipe to make it blend properly. Extra curry paste can be frozen for months.

Some people prefer a richer khao soi, and an easy way to do this is to drizzle a little extra coconut milk for on top (1-2 tablespoon per serving). The extra drizzle also makes for a prettier presentation!