I love pretty much any and all curry from any country. They are all so different and so flavorful. This is a variation on Thai red curry that is served as a soup with noodles instead of over rice.
Thai curry with coconut milk can be very rich, but this recipe has a good balance of coconut milk and broth, so you get the coconut flavor, but it isn’t as rich so you can eat a nice big bowl of soup. You do need a few key ingredients to flavor the broth. One is Thai red curry paste. I like this one. You also need fish sauce, this is my favorite. The broth also needs lime juice and brown sugar. If you taste your broth and feel it needs something, add a bit of lime juice/brown sugar and taste again.
You can use various veggies in this dish. I chose to use thinly sliced zucchini and carrot as well as quartered red onion. For the noodles I used Japanese udon noodles, but you use pretty much any noodle you like.
The toppings really help make this soup delicious, so don’t skip those. They are bean sprouts (mung bean sprouts, not the skinny little ones that go on sandwiches), fried shallots, cilantro, fresh lime juice, and you can add some Thai basil too if you can find it.
Thai Red Curry Noodle Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp oil
- 3 oz red curry paste
- 1 1/2 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp curry powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 14 oz can coconut milk
- 1 package boneless skinless chicken breasts sliced thinly
- 1 large red onion cut into wedges
- 1 zucchini halved long ways and thinly sliced
- 1 carrot sliced on the bias
- 2-3 cups chicken broth as needed
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tbsp fish sauce or more to taste
- dried noodles cooked according to the package
- 1/4 cup fresh lime juice more to taste
- fresh bean sprouts
- cilantro
- fried shallots
- fresh limes for squeezing while eating
Instructions
- Heat the oil over medium and fry the red curry paste for a few minutes. Add the carrots as well as the spices and continue to stir occasionally for a few minutes. Add the chicken in and cook, stirring often, until loses its raw appearance (this helps keep it from creating foam while the soup cooks).
- Add the coconut milk and some of the broth and allow the soup to simmer for about 10 minutes. Add the fish sauce, brown sugar, and lime juice and continue to cook for another 10 minutes. Taste and adjust the fish sauce, lime and brown sugar as well as the salt as needed.
- Add in the zucchini and the onion and let it simmer for a few minutes. You don't want them too overcooked.
- Cook the noodles according to the package and place into your bowls. Top with soup and serve with the toppings on the side.
- To fry shallots, just peel and thinly slice. Heat an inch of oil in a frying pan over medium high heat until a shallot dropped in sizzles. Add the shallots and fry until the start to get a nice brown, but not too dark. Drain on paper towels and sprinkle with salt.