Thai Chicken Curry Noodles Recipe (Khao Soi)

Thai Chicken Curry Noodles or Khao Soi is one authentic regional Thai cuisine that often doesn’t get the recognition it deserves in comparison to other popular dishes. Dating back to the 15th and 16th centuries, Khao Soi is a creamy coconut curry noodle based dish originating in Northern Thailand (with many linking its origins specifically to the city of Chiang Mai).

It’s a dish which combines common Thai ingredients and flavours such as shallots, lemons (or limes), red curry paste or ground chillies in oil with meat into a curry-like soupy sauce, served on egg noodles and topped with crispy fried egg noodles. Traditionally, Khao Soi is served with chicken; however variations of the dish can also be made with beef, pork and even tofu.

Khao Soi has often been likened to Thai Yellow Curry, Massaman Curry and even Laksa. However, while this dish is creamy, it has a thinner more soup-like consistency in comparison to typical Thai curries. Khao Soi recipes can also vary with the use of ingredients to achieve the spicy kick the dish is well known for, some recipes require individual ingredients to be grounded to make homemade paste while others, like this one, achieve a similar taste using readily available red curry paste. In some regions of east and west Northern Thailand, a version of Khao Soi can be made with rice noodles, however, a truly authentic Northern Thai Khao Soi recipe must use egg noodles.

In its most basic form, Khao Soi should be a combination of curry soup-sauce served on soft egg noodles with a choice of meat and garnished with fried noodles. Its flavour can be changed slightly to suit anyone's preference, with the palm sugar ingredient adding sweetness to the recipe while the soy sauce balances this out with saltiness. In Northern Thailand, Khao Soi is a very popular street food and also a popular lunch menu option in Thai restaurants.