Khao Soi (Curried Noodles)

This is another new favourite- my husband has requested this as a regular in our house.

In other news (and I’ll come back to the noodles very soon) I’m soon to be relocating back to my home city in Lancashire :) which means I’ll no longer be stuck in a small town in North Yorkshire! Sadly this will mean an end to my Thai food stock up trips to Nong Fern in Leeds but does mean I have two Asian supermarkets on my doorstep! The very good news is, the recipes will all be continuing!

Back to the Khao Soi- for once I wasn’t lazy and did make the simple curry paste from scratch- you could use a yellow or red Thai curry paste but it’s worth giving this one a go as it’s a bit different due to the roasting process. Khao soi is a northern Thai dish and is said to take a lot of it’s influence from nearby Burma. It’s a creamy, rich satisfying noodles dish, not too hot at all.

For two people use:

• 2 skinless small chicken breasts/ 4 thighs, chopped into small pieces


• 400ml coconut milk


• 100ml water


• a big splash of fish sauce (nam pla)


• a big pinch of sugar


• 2 sachets of egg (yellow) noodles


• vegetable oil for deep frying


• a lime, halved

For the curry paste, use:

• 4 cloves of garlic


• 2 stalks of lemongrass (ends trimmed and outer layer peeled off)


• 6 lime leaves


• a finger sized piece of fresh tumeric


• a finger sized piece of ginger


• 3 red chillies


• a small handful of coriander roots or stalks

• 4 red shallots/ half a red onion cut into a few bits


• 4 brown/ 10 white cardamom pods


• a small handful of coriander seeds

Start out by placing all the curry paste ingredients into a packet made from tin foil. Place this foil packet over a low-medium heat hob- I did this on electric, gas works best. Don’t let the foil packet sit for too long, keep it moving to stop the contents from burning. After 5 to ten minutes, take a look inside; there should be some charring and everything should have softened up. This provides a really nice smoky flavour to the paste. Pop everything into a pestle and mortar and pound, pound, pound away until you have a course paste. I cheated a bit after a while and transferred the pounded paste to a mini herb chopper, just to get it really fine. 

Once the paste is done, heat a wok and pour in the coconut milk. Let it sit for quite a while, until reduced by half and the oils are visible on the surface. Add in all the paste and stir fry for a few minutes until cooked down. Add in the water, fish sauce, sugar and chicken and let it cook for at least ten minutes, more if you like a thicker sauce.

While the curry is cooking, boil water for the noodles, cooking for as long as needed. In another small pan, heat the oil until hot. Take a few strands of cooked and well drained noodles at a time and gently drop them into the hot oil. They will fizzle and puff up instantly. Scoop them out, and drain on kitchen paper. 

Assembly time- place the drained noodles in the bottom of a serving bowl. Spoon over a ladle of the curry. Place some of the crispy deep fried noodles on top and finally squeeze over the lime juice.