Name: Khao Soi (Northern Thai Curry Noodles)
Prep time: 40 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 1 h 25 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Thai
Ingredients: 400 g fresh egg noodles; 500 ml oil for frying; 8 pcs dried chillies; 80 g shallots; 5 cloves garlic; 20 g ginger; 15 g fresh turmeric; 1 stalk lemongrass; 2 tsp ground coriander; 1 tsp ground cumin; 1 tbsp curry powder; 1 tsp shrimp paste; 4 pcs chicken legs; 200 ml coconut cream; 400 ml coconut milk; 500 ml chicken stock; 3 tbsp fish sauce; 1 tbsp palm sugar; 1 tsp dark soy sauce; 80 g pickled mustard greens; 2 pcs shallots; 2 pcs limes; 2 tbsp nam prik pao; 1 handful coriander leaves

Ingredients

4servings

Noodles
fresh egg noodles · 300g boiled, 100g deep-fried400 g
oil for frying · just deep enough for the noodles500 ml
Curry paste
dried chillies · deseeded and soaked in hot water8 pcs
shallots80 g
garlic5 cloves
ginger · this dish leans on ginger rather than galangal20 g
fresh turmeric · or 1 tsp ground; where the colour comes from15 g
lemongrass · less than other Thai curries use1 stalk
ground coriander2 tsp
ground cumin1 tsp
curry powder · curry powder in a Thai curry looks wrong, and it is exactly what khao soi is1 tbsp
shrimp paste · kapi; anchovy paste stands in1 tsp
Broth
chicken legs · bone-in; the north uses legs4 pcs
coconut cream · for frying the paste. Thin coconut milk will not break into oil200 ml
coconut milk400 ml
chicken stock · or water500 ml
fish sauce3 tbsp
palm sugar · dark brown sugar works1 tbsp
dark soy sauce · for colour only; optional1 tsp
Condiments (not optional)
pickled mustard greens · pak kad dong; rinse, squeeze dry and chop80 g
shallots · raw, in thick wedges, served as they are2 pcs
limes · in wedges2 pcs
nam prik pao · Thai roasted chilli paste, added by the eater2 tbsp
coriander leaves1 handful

Steps

Deseed the dried chillies and soak 15 minutes. Blend them with the shallots, garlic, ginger, turmeric, lemongrass, the three ground spices and the shrimp paste into a thick paste.
⏲ 20 min
Simmer only the 200ml of coconut cream in a pot over medium heat for 5-6 minutes until the oil separates on the surface, then add the paste. Thin coconut milk never breaks like this, and the paste would only stew.
⏲ 7 min
Fry the paste in that oil for 6-8 minutes, until it darkens and the red oil separates out again. Same principle as the rempah in laksa, and here too it is where the depth comes from.
⏲ 8 min
Add the chicken legs and turn them in the paste for 3 minutes to coat.
⏲ 3 min
Pour in the 400ml coconut milk and 500ml stock, then the fish sauce, palm sugar and dark soy. Bring it up once, drop to low and cook 25-30 minutes without boiling, until the chicken gives at the bone.
⏲ 30 min
Separate 100g of noodles by hand completely dry. Straight from the bag they carry water, which turns to steam in the oil and leaves them tough and greasy. Press them with kitchen paper if needed.
⏲ 5 min
Heat the oil to 175C and fry the loosened noodles a handful at a time for 30-40 seconds. Lift them at pale gold — dark brown tastes bitter. Cool on a rack.
⏲ 5 min
Rinse the pickled mustard greens, squeeze them dry and chop. Getting the salt out is what keeps them from shifting the seasoning of the bowl. Cut the shallots into thick wedges and the limes into pieces.
⏲ 5 min
Boil the remaining 300g of noodles for 2 minutes, shake dry and divide between bowls. Ladle the broth and a chicken leg over each.
⏲ 3 min
Add the fried noodles at the table, right before eating. Sitting in the broth they soften within three minutes and the contrast is gone — the one piece of timing this dish demands.
⏲ 1 min
Serve the pickled greens, raw shallot, lime and nam prik pao alongside in separate dishes, for each person to squeeze and stir in.
⏲ 2 min

Tips & Variations

Variations

Beef khao soi is common in Chiang Mai too: simmer shin for 90 minutes. The broth

comes out heavier than with chicken, so use a little more lime.

Khao soi nam ngiao has a similar name and is a different noodle soup — no coconut,

a broth of tomato and pork blood — which surprises anyone who ordered expecting this.

For a vegetarian version, swap the shrimp paste for a teaspoon of miso and the

chicken for tofu puffs and shiitake. With turmeric and curry powder in front, it holds up without meat better than most.

Any wheat noodle will do if you cannot find fresh egg noodles — but prepare both

the boiled and the fried batch regardless, or it stops being this dish.

Over the border there is mohinga, Burma's noodle soup, which hints at

where khao soi's turmeric-and-curry-powder leaning came from.

Put it beside Thai green curry and the split is obvious: fresh herbs

and galangal there, turmeric, coriander seed and curry powder here — two curries from one country with different ancestry.

Tips

Two noodle states in one bowl. Boiled underneath, fried on top. That is the

definition of khao soi; leave the fried batch out and you have a coconut curry noodle soup.

Add the fried noodles at the table. Three minutes in the broth is enough to soften

them, so garnishing in the kitchen means they are already gone by the time the bowl arrives.

Fry the noodles dry. Surface water on fresh noodles flashes to steam in the oil,

which makes them tough and oily. 175C, 30-40 seconds, lifted at pale gold — dark brown is bitter (deep frying).

Fry the paste in coconut cream. Simmering thick cream alone breaks the emulsion so

the oil rises, and the paste then fries in that oil. Thin coconut milk will not split this way (emulsions and pan sauces).

Do not boil the broth. Once the coconut milk is in, a rolling boil separates it into

grains and turns it rough. The only split you want here is the cream in the earlier step.

Do not leave out the curry powder. Curry powder in a Thai dish looks like a mistake,

and it is precisely what marks khao soi off from every other Thai curry (blooming spices).

The condiments are not optional. Without the acid from pickled greens and lime and

the bite of raw shallot, a coconut broth defeats you halfway down the bowl. The plate a Thai shop brings alongside is structure, not decoration (balancing flavour).