SAHD Recipe - Khoa Soi (Thai Curry Noodles) - Retire by 40 (2024)

Hey everyone! Welcome to another installment of the SAHD recipe. Today, we’ll make Khoa Soi, curry noodle. This dish is from northern Thailand (same as me) and it is one of my favorite noodles. Whenever we visit Chiangmai, we always try to eat a few bowls. The problem is the authentic recipe is somewhat difficult to make at home. You need to make your own curry paste. However, I’m making the easy version today. We’ll add some extra spice to a store brought red curry paste to make the flavor similar to khoa soi curry paste.This works pretty well and it simplified the cooking process greatly. We made a video for this dish and RB40Jr is asking for 7 Likes. Please hit the Like button for him! 😉*See video at the end of the post. Prep time: 15 minutes Cook time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

This makes about 6 servings. You can make half a recipe by cutting everything in half.

• 1 pound of chicken. Dark meat is better in this dish. I used thighs in the video, but drumsticks are good too. You just need to simmer a bit longer if you use drumsticks or bone-in thighs.
• 1 package (1lb) of thick wonton noodles. You should be able to find these at your local Asian grocery store. I guess you can substitute fresh fettuccini or dry spaghetti if you can’t find them.
• 1 box of (34 oz) Aroy-D coconut milk or cream. Mae Ploy or Chaokoh are good too. Don’t use the “lite” coconut milk.
• 1/2 box of water or chicken stock. I use the coconut milk box.
• 1 – 3 tablespoons of red curry paste. Maesri is the best brand. You can add more if you like spicy or less if you don’t.
• 2 tablespoons of curry powder. I used a mix of cardamom, coriander, and turmeric powder in the video because we ran out of curry powder.
• 4 tablespoons fish sauce
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoon sugar
• Optional – A dash of sweet black soy sauce for each bowl.
• Optional – A teaspoon of Nam Prik Pao for each bowl.

Garnish

• Cilantro
• Green onion
• Scallion or red onion
• Thai preserved mustard greens.
• Salad greens
• Pork rinds. Most people use fried noodles, but we don’t fry stuff at home so I use pork rinds instead. It works very well.
• Lime

Equipment

• A large saute pan or wok. This should be large enough to fit everything above and have room for mixing.
• A pot for cooking the noodles.

*I add these links to Amazon so you can see what the ingredients look like. These items should be much cheaper at your local grocery stores.

Cook it!

See video.

1. Open the coconut milk/cream carefully. The coconut cream should be on top. Put 1/2 cup of the coconut cream in the pan. Turn up the heat to medium-high.
2. Once the coconut cream starts bubbling, add the red curry paste and stir.
3. You want to stir until the oil separates. It should take about a minute or so.
4. Add chicken and cook until the outside is a little firm. It doesn’t have to be cooked completely at this point. We just want to coat it with flavor.
5. Add the rest of the coconut milk and water/chicken stock.
6. Wait until the broth starts to bubble, then turn it down to simmer. If you use bone-in chicken, simmer until it is cooked.
7. Meanwhile, we’ll blanch the noodles. Take the noodles out of the package and loosen them up. You don’t want to throw the whole clump into the pot.
8. Blanch the noodles for 2-3 minutes. Check often to see if it’s ready. We don’t want the noodles to be mushy. Drain and cool it down a bit with cold water.
9. Back to the broth. Stir and flavor with fish sauce, sugar, and soy sauce. Taste to see if it’s good. I usually keep it a little bland at this point. You can always add more at the table.

Serve

This part is important. Khoa soi has a lot of garnishing. These make a big difference.

1. Put one serving of noodles into a bowl.
2. Add a dash of sweet black soy sauce.
3. Add a little nam prik pao. More if you like spicy.
4. Ladle meat and broth into the bowl.
5. Add scallion, green onion, cilantro, preserved vegetables, and a little salad on top.
6. Add a squeeze of lime.
7. Bring some pork rinds to the table. We don’t want these to be soggy.

Eat Khoa Soi!

At the table, mix everything in the bowl up. Then put some pork rinds on top. Take a taste and see how you like it.This part is important. Restaurants in Thailand usually have condiments at the table. You need to customize the food to your taste. The khoa soi was perfect for my wife and kid, but it was a little bland for me. I added a little fish sauce (salty) and sriracha chili sauce and it was perfect. If you like it saltier, sweeter, or spicier, just add a bit of flavoring at the table.Enjoy!

Khoa Soi video from Eat by 40!

Please hit the Like button for RB40Jr.

Kitchen tools recommendation

• Skillets– I love our smallMatfer Bourget black steel pan. We use it to cook eggs. It is so much better than any nonstick pan. These carbon steel skillets will last forever, unlike the nonstick pans. We also have a biggerLodge carbon steel pan. It isn’t as nice as the Matfer Bourget, but it is more affordable. You can’t go wrong with either. Although, if I had to do it over, I’d splurge and go with Matfer Bourget. It’s just nicer and I use the pan very often. It’s worth paying more.
• Knives – My favorite kitchen knife is our 5″ Calphalon Santoku knife. I use it for almost everything. If I need a little more power, then I use our 6″ chef knife. That one is Mrs. RB40’s favorite. You really only need 2 knives in the kitchen.
• Rice cooker – I cook rice very often so a good rice cooker is essential. Many people rave about the Zojirushi rice cooker, but I don’t like the nonstick inner pot. Those nonstick surfaces never last. So I went with the TATUNG rice cooker instead. The inner pot is stainless steel and it should last forever. It makes great rice. They also have a smaller/cheaper 3 cup version. I think we got our cooker when it was on sale.
• Oyster sauce – I recommend the Mae Krua brand. It is high quality and affordable sauce from Thailand. The key is to check the ingredient on the bottle’s food label. The oyster extract should be the first ingredient. Many cheap brands have water and sugar listed first. As defined by the FDA, “the listing of each ingredient in descending order of predominance.” Same with fish sauce. For fish sauce, I recommend Tra Chang, the scale brand. This brand is actually my cousin’s family brand. It’s high quality.