Kanum Jean Nam Ngiao – Curry Noodle Soup

A noodle curry popular in northern Thailand and Myanmar. Delicious soup with spices and sparkle from fresh tomatoes. Eat with fresh sprouts and pickled cabbage.

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Ingredients — Curry

• 2 slices galangal, chopped into small pieces
• 1-2 dried chilis — for a less spicy dish, substitute 1-2 sweet mini-peppers chopped into small pieces
• 2-3 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
• 1-2 small shallots or 1/4 sweet onion, julienne
• 1/2 stalk lemon grass, sliced into thin pieces
• 5-6 cilantro roots, chopped small – or substitute 1-6 cilantro stems
• 1 tsp miso (fermented soybean or other — eg, garbanzo bean – paste)

Preparation — Curry

1. Set pan on stove top and turn heat to medium high, no oil necessary. 
2. Add galangal, dried chilis, garlic, shallot, lemongrass. Keep ingredients moving in pan.
3. When the aroma of the ingredients fills the air, turn heat down to low. Keep cooking until the ingredients turn dark on the outside; be careful not to overcook. Turn heat off and remove from heat. Set aside to cool.
4. When the ingredients cool, use mortar and pestle and pound the ingredients; add cilantro roots and miso and pound all into paste.

Ingredients — Soup

• 2-3 tbsp olive oil
• 1/3 cup tempeh or tofu, mashed
• 1/2 cup mushrooms, cut into small pieces
• 2-3 cups vegetable stock or water
• 5-6 fresh cherry tomatoes, halved
• 2-3 green onions
• 3-4 sprigs cilantro

Preparation – Soup

1. Put vegetable stock in a soup pot and turn heat on. When stock comes to a boil, turn heat down to low and let simmer.
2. In another sauce pan, add olive oil and turn heat to high. When the oil is hot, add    2 tbsp curry paste, more if you like. Mix well. Add tempeh or tofu and follow with mushrooms.
3. When all ingredients are cooked, place into simmering pot of stock. Turn heat to high. When soup boils, add tomatoes and soy sauce. Turn down to simmer, cook until ingredients are well blended.

Accompaniments

• 1 pond cooked rice vermicelli or other pasta
• Crispy garlic (5-6 garlic cloves crushed with knife or pounded with mortar and pestle; fried in olive oil until crispy)
• 1/4 cup fresh sprouts
• 1/3 cup pickled cabbage, sliced
• 2-3 green onions, sliced to small pieces
• 3-4 sprigs cilantro, sliced to small pieces
• Lime wedges

Serve

In an individual bowl add 1/2 cup noodles. Add sauce and garnish with crispy garlic, green onion, cilantro, sprouts, pickled cabbage and squeeze lime over it.  Enjoy!

Note: you’ll have leftover curry paste to use in other dishes. It should be refrigerated and used in a day or two.