Khao soi

Ingredients

• Egg noodles500 g
• Chicken drumsticks800 g
• Coconut milk800 ml
• Red curry paste4 tbsp
• Curry powder1 tbsp
• Turmeric1 tsp
• Fish sauce3 tbsp
• Palm sugar1 tbsp
• Shallots — to serve4
• Pickled mustard greens — to serve100 g
• Limes3
• Oil for frying500 ml
• Coriander30 g

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

1. 1

   Set a fifth of the noodles aside, separate the strands and deep-fry them to a golden crisp.

   12 min

2. 2

   Heat the thick part of the coconut milk in a pan, without stirring, until the oil separates out.

   10 min

3. 3

   Fry the curry paste, curry powder and turmeric in that oil for three minutes, until deeply fragrant.

   5 min

4. 4

   Add the chicken and turn it in the paste until it is coated all over.

   5 min

5. 5

   Add the rest of the coconut milk and some water, the fish sauce and the sugar, and simmer thirty minutes.

   32 min

6. 6

   Boil the remaining noodles and divide them between bowls.

   8 min

7. 7

   Ladle over the curry and chicken, top with the fried noodles, shallot, pickled greens, coriander and a wedge of lime.

   6 min

About the dish

The noodles come two ways: boiled in the broth and deep-fried on top. The contrast of soft against crisp is the substance of the dish, not decoration.

The coconut cream is first "cracked": heated without stirring until the oil separates, and the curry paste is fried in that oil. It opens the spices in a way plain vegetable oil does not.

Khao soi belongs to Chiang Mai and has Burmese and Yunnanese roots. The chicken is served on the bone, and the northern version does not cut it up.

Worth knowing

• — Do not stir the coconut milk until the oil breaks out. Stirring holds the emulsion together and leaves nothing to fry the paste in.
• — The fried noodles go on at the very last moment. In the broth they soften within two minutes and the whole contrast is gone.
• — The pickled mustard greens are not optional. Their acidity balances a rich coconut curry, and without them the dish cloys quickly.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories

820 kcal

Protein

42 g

Fat

46 g

Carbs

62 g

More from Thailand

• Tom yum goong — A hot and sour prawn soup where the balance is set at the end: fish sauce, lime and sugar go in to taste rather than by the recipe.
• Pad thai — Rice noodles fried with tamarind, fish sauce and palm sugar. The whole thing takes four minutes.
• Pad krapow — Minced pork fried with chilli, garlic and holy basil. Five minutes from start to plate.