Khao Soi (ข้าวซอย) is a dish that is prepared in different ways in northern Thailand and Laos. Here we show the Thai version, specifically from the city of Chiang Mai, also known as the ‘Rose of the North’, which is very popular with foreign visitors.
This dish also uses ingredients that are not typical of Thai cuisine, such as ginger. This is attributed to trade and culinary influences from China. Nevertheless, the Thai style of cooking is also evident and this mixture is what makes the preparation so exciting for us. It also tastes simply sensational.
It starts with a curry paste, which you have to make yourself as it is not available to buy. You can find recipes that use a mixture of yellow and red curry paste, but this is not the same.
This requires black cardamom, plenty of coriander seeds, a little coarse salt and dried Thai chillies, although a less spicy variety can be used instead. You also need ginger, fresh turmeric (both peeled, of course) and shallots. These don’t have to have been transported halfway around the planet, local produce is also perfectly suitable.
Remove the seeds from the chillies and place them in water for at least 15 minutes. Roast the cardamom and coriander in a pan over a medium-high heat for 2 minutes, moving the pan around so that the heat reaches the spices from all sides.
In the same pan, sauté the thinly sliced shallots, ginger and turmeric in a few drops of neutral oil over a medium-high heat until lightly browned.
You can now make the paste in a food processor, but this is more suitable for larger quantities. Traditionally, a mortar is used. The cardamom capsules are crushed and then opened. They contain small black seeds and only these are edible; the shell is thrown away. The dry spices – cardamom seeds and coriander – are then ground into a powder in the mortar, which takes barely a minute.
The spice powder is put to one side and the moist ingredients (shallots, ginger and turmeric) are pounded in the mortar.
As soon as an initial rough mixture has been created, add the soaked and squeezed chillies and coarse salt. The salt helps with further processing, which can take 5 – 10 minutes. By pounding and grinding, an increasingly fine paste is created, to which the already ground, dry spices are added after a few minutes. Their dryness helps the process, as does the salt.
The next step is to prepare noodles – slightly broader noodles that contain egg. These should be Asian noodles, which are particularly suitable for soups and frying because they retain a bite even after cooking. The right product is often sold under the label ‘Won-Ton Noodle’. They are available both fresh and dried and either works. The noodles are cooked briefly according to the instructions on the packet, then rinsed immediately in cold water and mixed thoroughly with a little neutral oil to prevent them from sticking together.
About a quarter of the noodles are fried. We divide them according to the number of portions we are serving and arrange them into small nests. We use a wok or a very small pan, so we only need a small amount of oil. The noodle nests only just need to be able to float on it. Heat the oil over a medium-high heat until a wooden spoon or toothpick dipped in the oil starts to bubble. Then fry the nests for just under 2 minutes on one side and just under 1 minute on the other until they are bronze-coloured and crispy.
Drain the noodles on some kitchen paper, there is no need to keep them warm. And a particularly delicious ingredient is prepared.
Preparing the curry yourself is not difficult and is similar to other Thai curries. A few tablespoons of coconut milk are heated in a wok over a medium-high heat and the curry paste is stirred in. The quantities we have given for the curry paste would make for a hot curry, so we use about two thirds. Half is sufficient for a mild curry. Leftover curry paste can be kept frozen for months.
We leave this to simmer for a good 5 minutes so that the full flavour is extracted and can be smelled. When the oil separates from the coconut milk at the edge of the liquid, it’s definitely time for the next ingredients.
Now there are two ways:
Khao Soi is prepared with different types of meat, we choose chicken and only with this the further description works. Traditionally, the lower and/or upper parts of the legs of chicken are used. If you do this, put them in the wok now, as the meat on the bone needs considerably more cooking time. In this dish, we prefer the breast fillet, which is more delicate and requires less cooking time.
The rest of the coconut milk is added. If you want a lighter curry, you can replace part of the specified amount with water or chicken stock. Let it simmer gently for a further 5 minutes, during which time the colour will steadily change. After adding the coconut milk, everything still looks quite pale, but turmeric and chilli quickly add more colour.
The seasoning is then finalised with sweetness and saltiness. The sweetness is provided by palm sugar, which is usually sold in a kind of hemisphere. You can peel off the desired amount of this in fine flakes with a sharp knife.
In Thai cuisine, saltiness is always created with fish sauce and it adds so much more flavour. Both are now added to the wok and stirred thoroughly.
If you are using pieces of chicken thigh, you should simmer them for at least 30 minutes until the meat is safely cooked on the bone – and it is best to cut into the meat and check before serving. Our breast fillet is different, we just poach it in this curry sauce until it is cooked and perfectly juicy.
We therefore take our time and test the flavours of our sauce. We adjust the sweetness and saltiness with palm sugar and fish sauce if necessary. If we want more depth, we add a small amount of soy sauce and possibly also dark soy sauce, but this is up to personal taste. Only when everything is right are the pieces of breast fillet added to the wok and poached in the curry sauce. This takes a maximum of 10 minutes.
Khao Soi is served with four other condiments: slices of lime, chopped raw shallot, chilli oil and pickled mustard leaves. You can leave these out, but they all work wonderfully. The pickled mustard leaves must be bought from an Asian supermarket and chopped into small pieces. To make the chilli oil, heat 2 tbsp of neutral vegetable oil and add 1 tbsp of chilli flakes and leave to infuse for 2 minutes.
Then it can be served. We use large bowls that we have gently heated in the oven (50 degrees Celsius). We first add the cooked noodles, then portion out the chicken and finally pour on the hot curry sauce, which immediately warms the cold noodles to perfection.
The fried noodle nest is placed on top and the dish is sprinkled with the finely chopped green part of spring onions and fresh coriander.
This all tastes at least as good as it looks.
Enjoy.
And may the taste be with you.
P.S.:
This absolutely beautiful and perfect bowl, since it is not even, has been specially designed for such dishes and for Ramen in particular. Each one is lovingly handcrafted at an enchanting location. But not in Japan, as one might expect. Instead, not very far from where we live in Bavaria.
If you’re interested, just write to us and we’ll put you in touch. There is no website or webshop, which is great.
Ingredients ( for 4 people):
For the curry paste:
2 pods of black cardamom
6 g coriander seeds
20 g ginger
7 g fresh turmeric
2 – 3 shallots (approx. 70 g)
6 – 7 dried Thai chillies without seeds
1 tsp coarse salt
A little neutral oil
For the noodles:
Depending on your appetite, about 400 – 500 g of broad Asian egg noodles (‘won-ton noodles’) – or half the weight if using dried noodles
Depending on the cookware, approx. 150 ml neutral oil for frying
For the curry:
800 ml coconut milk (for a lighter curry, a quarter can be replaced with water or chicken stock)
Either (classic) lower and/or upper chicken legs – or (we) pieces of breast fillet of a convenient size. Depending on your appetite, about 500 – 600 g
10 – 15 g palm sugar, to taste
1 – 2 tbsp fish sauce, to taste
Optional: A little soy sauce
Optional: Some dark soy sauce (‘’Healthy Boy‘’ brand)
2 spring onions and 1 bunch of fresh coriander
Condiments (optional):
Lime, chopped shallot, chilli oil and pickled mustard leaves
