Khao Soi is a thick coconutty noodle dish from Thailand that I first discovered and loved after getting a Anglothai meal kit over lock down. I recreated this dish using the guidance from Woon Heng’s recipe online but tweaking it slightly with the ingredients I had in.

I used oyster mushrooms for this recipe and also Tofu Puffs for garnish. I can’t even tell you how warming and delicious this is! it really does warm you up from the inside and out. I really enjoyed this on the night and the paste was used for a different dish later on - so versatile! You can also get another portion of Khao Soi from this which is brill as the paste can sit in the fridge for ages until you need to use.

This recipe is Vegan woohoo! and really does not compromise on flavour at all.

I made the paste in a food processor. If you haven’t got one, you can use a pestle and mortar or a stick blender.

To make the paste:

5 dried chiles soaked in hot water until soft

3 Red Chillies

2 large shallots

4 garlic cloves

1 stalk fresh lemongrass

4 Kaffir lime leaves

1 thumb piece/ roughly 65g fresh ginger

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cumin powder

1 teaspoon coriander powder

½ teaspoon turmeric powder

3 tbsp veg oil

Chop up all the ingredients above and make into a paste using your blender. Set aside.

Crispy Topping:

4x Sheets of Wonton wrappers (available in frozen sections of Asian supermarkets. Or an alternative is spring roll/samosa wrappers) sliced into thin strands.

Veg oil for shallow frying.

Khao Soi Broth and noodles:

1 x Can Coconut Milk

3 tbsp Vegan Fish sauce

1 x Lime

Dried noodles of choice- I used eggless “wonton” noodles

Handful (100g) of Oyster mushrooms

1 x Shallot chopped into chunks

4 tbsp White Vinegar

2 tbsp Sugar

1 tbsp Veg/Mushroom Boullion

350 ml Water

Handful of Tofu Puffs

Bunch of Coriander

Optional but really makes this dish- Pickled mustard greens ( available in Asian supermarkets)

Method:
1. In a pan cook off your paste with some vegetable oil. This will cook out the spices in your paste and really get the paste to its optimum flavour. Once you have done this for about 15 minutes on a medium heat, take out half of the paste and jar for next time. The remaining paste will make enough broth for two large portions for 2 people.
2. In the same pan with your leftover paste, add the mushroom/veg boullion and cook off in the paste. Add your mushrooms and stir fry for a couple of minutes.
3. Add your tin of coconut milk with your paste and stir. You will see the gorgeous colour and what will be the base of your Khao Soi broth coming together. Add the sugar, fish sauce and juice of a lime to the broth. Add the water and mix well.
4. Get your chopped shallot and stick in the vinegar in a bowl. This will slightly pickle it but keep it crunchy for one of your noodle toppings.
5. Allow the broth to simmer for about 25 minutes to cook the mushrooms and bring the broth to temperature. Whilst this is happening, you can prepare the other items for the broth.
5. In a frying pan with some oil, shallow fry your crispy noodle toppings. Make sure you have kitchen paper to place the pieces on to drain. Set aside and this will be the crispy topping of your Khao Soi. Do these in batches until golden brown.
6. Get a pan of water going on the boil for your noodles. Once the water is boiled, cook your noodles Al dente and rinse under cold water. Prepare 2 x bowls for your noodles and place your noodles in them.
7. Turn down the heat on the broth, season to taste. Add more vegan fish sauce for salt to your liking, more lime if needed or sugar for sweetness and balance. Turn off the heat once you have tasted your broth and adjusted to your liking.
8. Using a ladle, pour over your broth onto your noodles. Add your tofu puffs on top, bean sprouts, quick pickled shallots, crispy wonton toppings and some coriander. Add the mustard greens if you have any as well. Add chilli oil if you like spice like me, I used rice over everything new crispy chilli oil for mine, adding texture and heat to this dish.

I really hope you enjoy this dish as much as I did! If you follow Woon Hengs recipe, you will see there are some substitutions to the dish. I didn’t have galangal so instead I used ginger etc so feel free to make swaps if you haven’t got some of the ingredients! Happy cooking and I hope this gives you as much joy as it did to me.

Vegan Khao Soi