CHICKEN KAOSOI “NORTHERN THAI NOODLES”
Have you been to the north of Thailand? If you have, I’m pretty sure you must have seen Chiang Mai Noodles, aka Kao Soi Noodles before. It is one of the most common dishes you’ll find in the north of Thailand.
Kao Soi is essentially a warming bowl of chicken curry noodle. The essentials are a must; these include fried yellow noodles, lime, shallots, chili oil, pickled mustard, dried chili, and possibly coriander for some decoration. Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to get my hands on dried chili this time, so it was missing. Pretty sad about it. So if you have the opportunity, make sure to get all these condiments ready! It really does elevate your bowl of Kao Soi to another level.
The flavors of Northern Thailand in a bowl.
What a shame for me to say this, but notice the noodles I used for these two sets of photos are not the same. It’s quite hard to find the appropriate Kao Soi noodles when I’m living abroad. Try your best to find the correct noodles. If you’re lucky enough to get your hands on them, put some aside and fry until crispy. It’s added to the top of your noodle for additional texture. So, the correct condiments required for the Kao Soi topping includes: shallots, fried noodles, pickled mustard, chili oil, fried chili, and coriander (as shown below).
KAOSOI NOODLES
Make an authentic bowl of Northern Thai Chicken Curry Noodle at home within an hour.
prep time 20 minutes | cook time 40 minutes | total time 1 hour | serves 2
INSTRUCTIONS
Fried Noodle (topping)
Heat up oil in a pan/wok or pot on medium heat
Once the oil is hot, fry 1/5th of the noodles
Remove from oil and let it rest on a towel once crispy
Kao Soi Curry Noodle
On a new wok (or same pan without the oil), pour half of the coconut milk and heat on medium heat until the oil starts to separate
Note: make sure the coconut milk doesn’t burn so keep stirring!
Add the curry paste to the wok and stir until well mixed and cooked
Note: You’ll know it’s cooked when the smell of the paste is not too pungent, but smells rather aromatic from the herbal components.
Add the chicken drumsticks and fish sauce. Let it simmer on low heat until chicken is cooked.
Add the rest of the coconut milk, chicken stock, palm sugar and lime juice. Season with more fish sauce if needed.
Serve
Boil the rest of the noodles and place into a bowl
Pour some curry over the noodles until fully covered and top with chicken to your liking
Add all the toppings.
Make sure you mix everything together before you
Enjoy!
INGREDIENTS
2-4 chicken drumsticks
50 g kao soi curry paste
500 mL coconut milk
250 mL chicken stock
2 tbsp palm sugar
1 tbsp fish sauce
Kaosoi noodles
Topping
Pickled mustard, oil
Shallots, chopped
Chili oil
Fried kaosoi noodles
Coriander
