2010 Cooking Club Week 4: Spicy Thai Chicken Noodle Soup

Mr. Magnolia your recipe looks great, I'm going to try it tonight / tomorrow night (however I'll be tweaking your recipe a little bit - I'll be replacing the sugar with a finely chopped chilli (seeds and all as I like spicy food) and a teaspoon or two of harissa)).

Two quick questions:
1) Can you freeze this soup do you know? I'd say you can but not 100% sure...maybe you have tried...
2) Do you know the calorie content?

thats a nice recipe mr magnolia.

"chilli in oil" paste instead of curry paste can be a nice alternative.

it can also be used to make tom yum gai and tom yum gum.


u can buy it in most asian shops. beware it is highly addictive

Mr Magnolia wrote: »

Good to hear you're giving it a go. Don't know what the calorie count is I'm afraid. I'd recommend you stick to the recipe for the first outing though. It's already fairly spicy with the madras curry paste so a chilli in on top maybe too much. Perhpas you could reduce the sugar rather than eliminating it altogether? The sugar gives it a nice balance and is important in the final product.

It should freeze no problems though I haven't done it. The noodles may not be brilliant second time round but I'm sure they'd be fine. You could always make the soup, separate what you want to freeze and then add whatever noodles to soup about to be eaten. You'd just have to cook the noodles up per batch, no hassle really.

Thanks!
Doesn't the curry paste have a lot of sugar in it? I'm hoping for a spicy soup as opposed to a sweet one....ah feck it I'll stick to your recipe and then modify it for future batches if needs me. I'm excited about making this...is that sad?

Faith wrote: »

Approximately 600 cals for a big bowl, 42g fat (coconut milk has a lot of fat!).

Thanks, ye I always buy the reduced fat coconut milk

Malari wrote: »

I don't have any curry paste and was thinking of making my own. Not as difficult as it sounds! A recipe I found online that is supposed to be very like the Madras one is virtually all spices with no sugar. I don't know if they add sugar to the commercial ones.

As for being sad - no way Cooking new recipes is exciting. I can't wait to try this one but it'll be the weekend at least before I get around to it.

Can you post the recipe for the curry paste?

I can't eat garlic, and every curry paste I've come across has garlic in it.

I know this recipe won't be the same without it - either in it, or in the curry paste, but I'd like to give it a try anyway!

catho_monster wrote: »

Can you post the recipe for the curry paste?

I can't eat garlic, and every curry paste I've come across has garlic in it.

I know this recipe won't be the same without it - either in it, or in the curry paste, but I'd like to give it a try anyway!

Em, yep this one has garlic sorry! I would substitute something like shallots if you are intolerant. Maybe if it's deeply embedded in the paste though you wouldn't notice it? I haven't actually made up this paste myself yet, so can't comment on it's quality Makes about 400ml.

2 teaspoons (10ml) ground black pepper
1 tablespoon (15ml) chilli powder
1/2 teaspoon (2.5ml) ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons (10ml) garam masala
2 teaspoons (10ml) ground tumeric
8 tablespoons (120ml) ground coriander
2 teaspoons (10ml) black mustard seeds
1/4 cup (62ml) ground cumin
3 crushed cloves of garlic
2.5cm (1 inch) cube fresh ginger root, grated
1/2 cup (125ml) brown vinegar
5 tablespoons (75ml) vegetable oil

Method
Put all ingredients except for the vinegar and oil into a medium bowl
Mix well
Stir in the vinegar and mix to a smooth paste
Heat oil in medium saucepan
Stir in the mixture over low heat until mixture boils and oil begins to separate from the spices
Remove saucepan from heat and allow to cool
Store in airtight jar and add to curries as required

Ok
Went to tesco, reexamined the curry pastes and found Massaman Thai Curry Paste that has no garlic in it. Is that going to be a runner for this dish? I have no frame of reference and I don't want to ruin the nice corn-fed free-range chick I bought!!

Thanks Mr. M!
Looking forward to trying this now.
I try and not buy those "less expensive" chickens at all, tbh. Its either no chicken or nicely-treated chicken in this house

Made it today, threw in 4 chicken fillets, seemed just the right amount for 3 of us.

Was savage, no one left a drop.

ellejay wrote: »

I thought I'd be adventurous and try to make the chicken stock myself.

I boiled a chicken in a pot of water, but there's a film of grease at the top of the pot.
Have you any suggestions on how to get rid of this or where did I go wrong?

Thanks and loving the cooking club!!
(completely inexperienced)

LJ

I heard a technique of throwing in some ice cubes in to the stock and the fat sticks to it.
Otherwise, leave it in the fridge overnight and it will solidify on top and its very easy to remove.

Good to see a thai recipe in there!

I make something similar but without using a curry paste - it still has a lot of flavour but it's less spicy. I start with garlic and ginger paste (blitz a couple of cloves and a finger of ginger, to taste, with a little water in a blender) in oil, then add sliced onions and soften them. Just like this recipe, I usually pre-boil a whole chicken, allow to cool, use the stock for the soup and strip the meat from the bones. To the onions and pastes, I add turmeric and cumin for flavour, then I add the stock to the onions. I also add lemongrass, lime leaves and fish sauce, with salt to taste. Let the stock simmer until the 'raw' flavour has gone off the spices.

When the soup base is cooked, I'll add the noodles for about three or four minutes until soft (I use rice vermicelli), then add some scalded bean sprouts, some sliced bok choy, some sliced spring onions, the chicken, some sliced fresh chili (for heat, to taste). Heat the veg and chicken through, then decant into big bowls. I top it with herbs sometimes (a little mint and coriander) and serve wtih a big wedge of lime for squeezing over the soup. If I want it spicier I'll stir a chili condiment through my own bowl.

I don't use coconut milk so it's more of a spiced broth with noodles and veg and chicken.

Using just a little turmeric and cumin, I find I get a very drinkable soup stock base without that catch in your throat from too many spices, but the premise of the original recipe is the same.

Damn, want some now...!

nice1franko wrote: »

I used Sharwoods Hot Curry Paste ('ideal for madras' it says) but that was really all I could taste in the finished dish. Even the lemon grass was lost in it. So it pretty much tasted like a bowl of runny curry sauce.

I used two heaped tablespoons... maybe I should have used less; two leveled spoons maybe?

edit- On the plus side, I learned that curry paste + a tin of coconut cream makes a savage Chinese takeaway style curry sauce.

its what i used and mine tasted fine. i only used once spoonful doh!

Great Recipe. Made this tonight for myself and the parents and it went down a treat with everyone. Deff one for the books. Got my dad to nip up to the local indian and get some Garlic,Onion,Coriander Naan bread to go with it, hehe

I went with reduced fat coconut milk and thai red curry paste. Might try some variations of it.

Ì just made this.

I slow cooked a chicken for the whole day, took off the meat, strained the stock and made the soup just as Mr M instructed. I added some fresh coriander to the bowl before serving.

It was very hot (the curry paste came from an Asian supermarket), which is perfect for me, but I might tone it down if I am making it for more fragile palates. I also might break up the noodles a little more - your chin gets very messy while eating/drinking this soup!

This was right down my alley. Lovely recipe.