Ode to Khao Soi

The food in Thailand changed my life. The best meals I have ever eaten were all in that country and they will influence the way I cook Thai food at home forever. Fish sauce is my best friend, dark soy sauce can’t be substituted, kaffir lime can’t be omitted, palm sugar is gold and lemon grass and tamarind make me weak at the knees…. and of course Thai chilis are FIRE. I get emotional just thinking about the magic that those people create behind tiny roadside stands with the biggest smiles spread across their faces…..That is what food is all about!

Khao Soi is a coconut curry noodle soup from Northern Thailand with Burmese influence and it’s slightly less common to see at Thai restaurants in the US. If it is in one, I have yet to see it made authentically like how it is served in Thailand – over egg noodles with tender bone-in chicken, topped with pickled mustard greens, shallots and crispy fried noodles. I ate countless bowls of this abroad and have perfected the recipe at home to get as close as possible to what I remember as being one of my most favorite meals living in Thailand. I have made this with a homemade curry paste, but I wanted to get a recipe down that was more simple for a weeknight meal.

The goal is to have a final dish that is well balanced - spicy, sour, sweet, salty and creamy all in one delicious bite. It really doesn't get much better than this. There isn't really a "khao soi" curry paste on the market that I am aware of, so the way I found to get the right flavor is to use red curry paste then add 2 tsp of curry powder. The curry powder I use is from India and it brings another element of flavor that makes it more authentic. It is traditional in Thailand to have bone-in chicken in this dish, but if you'd prefer it to be a bit easier to eat, you can shred the chicken off the bone before serving in bowls. I think bone in, skin on chicken adds so much flavor to the dish so I prefer not to use any other kind!

One place in particular stands out as easily the best Khao Soi I ever ate and it also may have been the best thing I ever consumed in my entire life. Shauna was visiting and we were driving via motorbike from Chiang Mai to Pai and we stopped at some random restaurant about an hour from Pai (to take in the scene, imagine gorgeous rolling hills and mountains cut with winding roads and dotted with tiny mom n’ pop style nameless restaurants with countryside views.…this is my heaven, I swear). Shauna and I sat and ordered their homemade kombucha made from tea leaves grown right behind the shop and two bowls of Khao Soi. This all together costed under $5 (with fresh melon for dessert)……TAKE ME BACK I TELL YOU!!!! When the sweetest woman brought over our steaming bowls, we took our first bites and just started laughing. It was the greatest thing either of us had ever tasted and we were instantly so deeply in love.

See below for photos of us thoroughly enjoying Khao Soi in Thailand - never to be forgotten!

If you go to Chiang Mai or elsewhere in Northern Thailand and you don’t try a bowl of Khao Soi from a nameless restaurant with plastic chairs and flies everywhere and fish sauce and chiles that look like they’ve been on the table for two years, you’ve made a huge mistake. You can’t miss this dish….actually you just can’t miss this country in general. Go to Thailand. Eat everything.



A few tips before you get cooking:

• Ingredients matter! I hate to publicly shame a brand but please don’t buy any Taste of Thai products. They are so inferior and Americanized it’s pathetic and you’ll never get the right flavor. If you want to cook real Thai, go to your local Asian market and buy the good stuff. Aroy-D coconut milk, Maesri or Mae Ploy curry paste and the fish/soy/oyster sauces that have hardly any English on them, if any.
• Buy palm sugar if possible. You can substitute brown sugar but it’s just not the same.
• Not all curry powders are the same! If you read the actual spices on the labels, the ingredients and quantities of ingredients are all different which leads to a different flavor. Smell them, taste them, find your preference and buy a good quality one. 
• The garnishes on this dish are necessary in my opinion. Find pickled mustard greens at your Asian market in a kind of vacuum sealed bag – Portland people, Veranda Asian Market on Forest Ave has literally everything.
• An important step in the curry cooking process is to separate the oil from the cream in the coconut milk. This allows for a thin layer of oil floating on top of the curry at the end which brights out the color, glistens and coats your lips in the spice. Very important, so don't skip! 

Khao Soi
Serves 4


Ingredients:

4 large bone in, skin on chicken thighs
1 can good quality coconut milk such as Aroy-D
1 4oz can red curry paste*
2 tsp curry powder
4 tsp fish sauce (more or less to your taste)
1 1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth
2 tbsp palm sugar
12 oz Chinese style egg noodles
One juicy lime
Pickled mustard greens
Two shallots sliced thin
Cilantro
Chow mein noodles**


Directions:

• In large wok or pot, heat 1-2 tbsp of oil to medium-high heat. Remove any unnecessary excess skin from chicken and season with salt and pepper. Place skin side down in pan and cook for 3-4 minutes to brown and crisp the skin. Remove from pan and set aside on plate. Scrape any bits from the bottom of the pan.
• Take 2 tbsp of the thick cream that sits atop the coconut milk and put into pan. Stir frequently and let it simmer until you see oil separate from the cream, about a minute. Add the entire can of curry paste and stir until you see it darken in color and oil glistens, about 2 minutes. Slowly stir in the remaining coconut milk, chicken stock, curry powder and palm sugar.
• Add the chicken back to the pan and simmer, turning chicken occasionally, for 30 minutes or until chicken is super tender and broth is flavorful - Season to taste, add more curry powder/salt and pepper if desired. Season to taste with fish sauce – 4 tsp is perfect for me, you may want less. Cover the pot at the lowest heat setting and let sit while you cook the noodles.
• Bring pot of salted water to boil and cook egg noodles to al dente. Drain and divide in four bowls. Top with one chicken thigh, divide the broth evenly among bowls and top or serve with a thick lime wedge (could have extra lime because I love lots of lime!), chopped pickled mustard greens, shallots, cilantro and chow mein noodles.

*Some curry pastes are spicier than others. I find mine is perfect but you may want to add additional spice at the end
**Traditional Khao Soi is topped with fried egg noodles. I use a short cut and top with store bought chow mein noodles instead to save time





I love this photo because it is my sister and I driving the motorbike after we finished our meals and we were pumped that the food was so amazing and we were singing The Doobie Brothers at the top of our lungs speeding down winding roads :) The best memories!