Khao Soi Curry Paste Recipe

**Creating Kao Soi: A Step-by-Step Guide to Making Northern Thai Noodle Soup**

Welcome to Hot Thai Kitchen! Today, we’re diving into a dish that’s beloved in northern Thailand—kao soi. This noodle soup features a rich curry broth and is topped with crispy egg noodles. If you’ve ever been to Chiang Mai, the bustling city in northern Thailand, chances are you’ve tried this iconic dish before. However, making kao soi can be a bit complex, which is why we’re breaking down the process into two parts. This week, we’ll focus on creating the curry paste—a foundational element that sets the stage for the entire dish. Next week, we’ll bring it all together to finish off this delicious meal.

### Ingredients for the Curry Paste

Before we dive into the step-by-step process, let’s take a look at the ingredients you’ll need for the curry paste:

- **10 large dry chilies (seeds removed and soaked in water to soften)**

- **1 teaspoon of coarse sea salt**

- **½ cup of roughly chopped shallots**

- **Ginger, peeled and sliced into about 10 pieces**

- **Turmeric, fresh and peeled (about 8 pieces), or 1 teaspoon of turmeric powder (if you prefer using the powdered version)**

- **1½ tablespoons of coriander seeds**

- **3 pods of black cardamom**

### Understanding the Influence: The Role of Black Cardamom

One of the standout ingredients in this curry paste is black cardamom. While it might sound unfamiliar to some, this spice plays a crucial role in giving the dish its unique flavor profile. Known for its distinctive aroma, which can be described as a mix of tobacco, leather, and menthol, black cardamom adds an intriguing depth to the curry paste.

To prepare the black cardamom pods, simply use your scissors to crack them open so you can access the seeds inside. Some pods may be stickier than others, but don’t worry—just break them apart enough so they’re not still stuck together in large chunks.

### Toasting the Spices

Next, we’ll toast the coriander seeds and black cardamom seeds. These spices are roughly the same size, making them easy to toast together. Heat a dry pan on medium-high heat and move the seeds constantly until they darken slightly and release their fragrant aroma. This process should take about three to four minutes.

### Charring the Herbs

To develop even more flavor in our curry paste, we’ll char some of our herbs. We’re using a hot sauté pan with just a tiny bit of oil (a trick to help with heat transfer). The goal here isn’t to cook the herbs but rather to brown them lightly on each side. Place the herbs in the pan and let them sit undisturbed for about a minute, then flip them once and allow them to char on the other side.

### Grinding the Ingredients

Now that we’ve prepped our spices and herbs, it’s time to start grinding everything into a paste using a mortar and pestle. Begin with your dry spices—coriander seeds and black cardamom—and grind them until they’re very fine. Once you’ve achieved a powdery consistency, set these aside for now.

Next, add the soaked chilies (remember to pat them dry first) into the mortar. Grind these until you have a smooth paste. Then, add the coarse sea salt and continue grinding. The salt not only adds flavor but also acts as a natural friction agent to help with the grinding process.

### Incorporating the Remaining Ingredients

Once your chili-salt mixture is ready, it’s time to add in the rest of your ingredients—shallots, ginger, and turmeric (either fresh or powdered). If you’re using fresh turmeric, keep in mind that it can stain your clothes and cutting board. It’s a good idea to wear protective clothing when handling fresh turmeric.

### A Word on Spiciness

When selecting chilies for your curry paste, remember that bigger chilies are generally less spicy than smaller ones. If you’re looking for a milder heat, stick with larger dried chilies. For those who enjoy more kick, consider using a mix of small and large chilies to adjust the level of spiciness to your liking.

### The Final Product

After grinding all your ingredients together, you’ll end up with a vibrant orange paste that will later cook down to a deep yellow color. This is the essence of your kao soi dish, and it’s worth taking the time to make sure it’s as flavorful as possible.

### Making Two Batches: Why It’s Worth It

In this video, we’re making enough curry paste for two batches of kao soi. While it might seem like a lot, having extra means you won’t have to go through the entire process again in the near future. Plus, it’s always nice to have some on hand for future meals or to share with friends and family.

### Final Thoughts

That’s it! You’ve just created the curry paste that will be the star of your next episode of Hot Thai Kitchen. If you haven’t subscribed yet, now is a great time to do so. You’ll receive alerts when we post new videos, including part two of this recipe, where we’ll finish off the kao soi dish.

For those looking for the full written recipe, head over to [hotthaimassage.com](http://hotthaimassage.com) (insert actual website link here). We can’t wait to see you in our next video as we bring this dish together and take a bite into that golden, aromatic curry broth. Until then—chan ga yen!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enSawaddee ka welcome to hot thai kitchen today for the first time we are making a dish from the north  of Thailand we are making kao soi now kao soi is the noodle soup when the curry broth and it's  topped with crispy egg noodles super delicious and if you've been to Chiang Mai which is the  popular city in the north you've probably had it before now it's a bit of a complex dish there's  lots to do so I'm gonna split this video into two parts this week we'll make the curry paste  and the next week we'll take our curry paste and then finish off the dish all right so let's take  a look at our ingredients for the curry paste 10 large dry chilies seeds removed and then  soaked in water to soften 1 teaspoon of coarse sea salt 1/2 a cup of roughly chopped shallots  ginger peeled and sliced about 10 pieces fresh turmeric peeled and sliced about 8 pieces and  I won't think any less of you if you substitute 1 TSP of turmeric powder 1 and 1/2 tablespoons  of coriander seeds and 3 pots of black cardamom so the ingredient for this curry paste is quite  different from other curry paste that you may have seen and that's because this dish is influenced  by the Chinese immigrants that came to Thailand from the yunnan region of China which sits just  right on top of the north of Thailand so that's why it's a little bit different so let's talk  about the spice that might be unfamiliar to a lot of you this is black cardamom now black  cardamom to me smells like tobacco and leather and a little bit of menthol which doesn't sound  like it would be good in food but trust me it is really good and so the way you work it I  just take my scissor and I crack it so I can get the seeds out because you want to roast the seeds  right and the seeds are inside kind of like this and they're a bit sticky some are stickier than  others and then you just want to break them apart a little bit they don't all have to come apart  but just loose enough so they're not still stuck together in a big bunch just like that and then  we're gonna toast these along with our coriander seeds now where to buy these you can get these  at Chinese grocery stores in which case they'll be labeled as this now I don't dare pronounce it  so it's just look for that in the spice aisle and Indian source is why you can go to Indian stores  and get them in which case they'll be labeled as this so Western stores also sell them but I find  they're a lot more expensive therefore exotic spices stick with the Chinese and Indian stores  are better select better selection and also much more inexpensive so we're gonna toast these and  you can toast them alongside the coriander seeds because there are roughly about the same size  okay and then just toast them on medium-high heat moving them constantly until the coriander seeds  darkens slightly and they smell very very good this should take about three to four minutes so  we're going to share some of our herbs and we're charring them to get them to brown and develop  some extra flavor now I've got a hot saute pan with a tiny little bit of oil the oil is my trick  you don't have to use it but I find it helps the heat transfer a little bit better you could also  just grill them or broil them anything that gets them to char around the edges that's all you needand just don't move them for you know a minute or so until these the one side has browned and then  flip them and then don't move them again and then that's it no you're done you're not really cooking  it you're just browning it and we're done and now we're just gonna take them and start pounding okay  now we're gonna start pounding the ginger that we toasted just now I just roughly chop them into  small pieces just so that it's a little easier for us when we go to grind them and and that's  another stick for grinding Curry's faces the finer you chop them to begin with the faster it goes in  the mortar and pestle so we're gonna start with our dry spices and you want to start with them  first because you don't want to grind this with everything else because you can't really get them  as fine I find oh that smells really good mmm coriander seeds okay so now that it's very very  fine okay you want to remove it and we're gonna add it in later because if we add everything else  now all this stuff will act kind of like a cushion for everything else that's in it and then it'll  be harder to grind everything else we're gonna go in with the chilies make sure cuz you soaked  these right you don't want any unnecessary water in there because it will splash in your face and  then the salt coarse sea salt - add some friction and get that to a beast okay so now that that's a  paste we're going to add our all the other herbs now you can do this half at a time if you want it  seems to be easier that way now I should mention that the chilies the bigger they are the less  spicy they are so I like to use big dried chilies for curry paste because then it's not too spicy  if you want it more spicy you can do a combination of some of the small ones and some of the big onesnow you can add this stuff back in which will now help because now there's a lot of moisture in here  from all the shallots this will dry it out and make it a little bit easier to pound okay that's  done that's enough this is it this is our pace now it looks cowboy is yellow if you've had it you  know it's yellow and now I know it doesn't look very yellow that's because turmeric is orange but  it cooks to be yellow which brings me to another point if you are working with turmeric it's a good  idea it's a to America turmeric I'm not sure it's a good idea to wear dark color because it will  stain your clothes and it will stay them for a long time it'll also stain your cutting board and  you're just saying it for a long time so just be aware of that both powders and fresh both of them  osteen just as badly okay so this will make two recipes of the cow soy recipe that I'm gonna make  for next week I made a little extra so you have it for next time so you don't have to go through  all this again and so I'll see you next week for the rest of this recipe if you're not subscribed  now is a good time to do so because you'll be alerted when I post the next video and for the  full written recipe of this curry paste visit hot hsn.com and I will see you next time for your nextyou\n"