Chicken Khao Soi

November 22, 2015 by Aurel Pop in Main Dish, Soup

I had never had khao soi prior to moving to the United States. As a matter of fact, Roni introduced me to it. It was right when we started dating that she told me about this insanely delicious Thai soup that I would love. She went on to explain that when she was backpacking in Thailand she went to Chiang Mai in the north almost exclusively to hunt the dish down in its native region. She kept going on and on about it, but honestly I just couldn’t wrap my head around it, until one day she took me to a Thai restaurant that she knew served a decent khao soi.

When I first tasted it I wasn’t that impressed. I think she got the vegetarian one, so it may have been that, but I recall thinking that the dish wasn’t anything special, or at least it wasn’t anything special to my sophisticated Eastern European palette. I think she got a bit offended by my indifference towards her favorite Thai dish, so she made it her mission to prove how good it was. She told me that there was another Thai place that was closed for remodeling at the time, but once it reopened she would take me there so I could have what she thought to be the closest to the khao soi in Chiang Mai.

After a few months the Thai place re-opened its doors so we went to check it out. As I was going through the menu I saw that their version of Khao Soi was actually made with chicken. It instantly got my attention. Funny thing is that I still didn’t order it anyway. I have this weird habit of not ordering what Roni does, even if it’s my favorite dish on the menu. The way I think about it is that I will taste it anyway if she’s ordering it so why not trying something else as well?

Well, my principle bit me in the ass this time. As soon as they brought out her khao soi I immediately knew I made a huge mistake. It looked so appetizing: fresh Thai basil, cilantro, bean sprouts and crisp red onions on top of this bright yellow fragrant soup. As she stirred it I saw noodles and a whole braised chicken leg which I thought I would surely get because Roni generally only eats white meat. I smelled it and was mesmerized by its curry fragrance. I managed to get a taste of it which finally led me to understand why she loved it so much and what a fool I was for not trusting her taste. To add to my misery, I didn’t end up getting the chicken leg, because apparently Roni’s dark chicken meat rules don’t apply when it comes to khao soi.

I played it cool, finished my dish and said that I could make a better khao soi at home anyway. She challenged me to prove it, which lead me to come up with this recipe. I experimented with several recipes I found online, but none of them seemed good enough, so I created my own version. Most importantly, Roni—who has had many versions of the real deal in Thailand--loves my recipe. In fact I just watched her polish off the last bowl of leftovers. Gin Hai Aroy!

Chicken Khao Soi

Serves 8
Prep time: 25 minutes
Cook time: 60 minutes

Ingredients

Curry paste

4 dried guajillo chilies (or pasilla chilies)
2 medium shallots, roughly chopped
6 cloves garlic, crushed and roughly chopped
2 inches ginger, crushed and roughly chopped
2-4 Thai chilies, roughly chopped (amount depends on your desired spice level)
1/2 cup cilantro stems, roughly chopped
1 1/2 TBS ground coriander seeds
2 tsp turmeric powder
2 tsp garam masala
1 TBS red curry paste

Soup

2 1/2 lbs skin-on chicken leg quarters, bone in (about 4 whole legs or 4 thighs and 4 drumsticks)
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 TBS vegetable oil
28oz coconut milk (2x14oz cans)
3 1/2 cups low sodium chicken broth
1 tsp clam juice
1 tsp fish sauce
2 TBS soy sauce
1/2 TBS palm sugar (or brown sugar), optional
1 cup pickled mustard greens, roughly chopped
1/4 cup cilantro leaves, finely chopped
1 medium lime juiced (about 3 TBS fresh lime juice)
1 lb egg noodles
1 TBS kosher salt

Garnish

bean sprouts
Thai basil leaves
red onions, sliced
cilantro leaves
lime wedges
crispy chicken skin

Instructions

In a small sauce pan bring 2 cups of water to a boil over high heat. Place the dried chilies in the pan and using a spoon submerge them under the boiling water. Cover the pan with a lid, remove from heat and let the chilies soak.
Using paper towels pat the chicken legs dry. Make sure you don’t miss a spot otherwise you risk burning yourself with splattering hot oil.
Remove the skin from the chicken legs. For best results use a paper towel to grab the skin (that way it won’t slip out of your hand) at the bottom of the thigh and pull upwards.
Set skin and chicken aside on a large tray and sprinkle with salt and pepper on both sides.
Add oil to a large and deep stainless steel frying pan. Place chicken skin in the oil and heat the pan over medium-high heat. When the oil starts shimmering reduce the heat to medium and cook the skin for about 5 minutes. Turn on the other side and cook until it becomes brown and crispy.
Transfer the skin to a paper towel lined plate and set aside.
You should have enough fat in the pan, but if it’s running low add a tablespoon or two of vegetable oil. Raise the heat to high until the grease easily slides across the pan.
Carefully place the chicken legs in the pan and sear them for about 10 minutes on each side.
While the chicken is searing, transfer the chilies from the hot water to a food processor removing the stems in the process. Keep 1/3 cup of soaking liquid. Discard the rest.
Add the rest of the ingredients under Paste to the food processor. Puree until it reaches the consistency of a smooth paste, about 2-3 minutes. Set aside.
When the chicken developed a nice brown sear on each side, transfer to a bowl and set aside.
Add the curry paste to the hot pan and cook for 5 minutes stirring occasionally. Pour in coconut milk, chicken broth, clam juice, fish sauce, soy sauce, and sugar. Stir well to combine and bring to a boil.
Place the chicken and juices from the bowl into the boiling sauce. Reduce heat to low and let it simmer for 25 minutes.
Add pickled mustard greens, cilantro and lime juice. Give it a last stir, cover and cook for 5 more minutes. Remove from heat and set aside. It’s done!
Fill a large pot halfway with water. Add a tablespoon salt and bring water to a boil over high heat. Add pasta and cook per the instructions on the package. It usually takes about 3-5 minutes to cook egg noodles so be careful not to overcook them.
When the noodles are done, drain them and discard the water.
Time to prepare the bowls for serving. Divide the noodles and place them in large soup bowls. Using a large spoon or ladle transfer soup and chicken on top of the noodles. Serve hot.
Add the toppings of your choice. Using your hands crush the chicken skin into bite sizes and sprinkle on top of the soup.

Notes

For a vegetarian version replace chicken with tofu, vegetables or a mix of the two and the chicken stock with low sodium vegetable broth. Also, replace the clam juice and fish sauce with vegetarian options.
Palm sugar, red curry and pickled mustard greens can be purchased at most Asian stores.
I prefer using air chilled chicken, especially when pan frying it. The regular one has a high water content and will splatter hot oil when placed in a hot pan.

PEI Mussels with Lemongrass Coconut Curry

June 11, 2015 by Aurel Pop in Appetizer

The next few weeks are going to be crazy. I'm doing a round the world trip within 3 weeks. I'll be leaving Austin later today and will fly to Hungary and Romania for a week, then to Singapore, then to Japan and then finally back home. Usually I prepare ahead of time, but for some reason this time I'm not fully packed yet and my flight is today.

I know I'll miss Roni, Popsi and Austin, but I can't wait to see my family and friends. Last time I was home it was in February 2014. That's almost a year and a half ago. I miss my parents, my sister, my grandma and her amazing food and I miss my grandfather, Bunu, who unfortunately passed away last July. It was the most painful thing that I have ever experienced. He had a mild form of Alzheimer's which within weeks turned into an aggressive one and took him away from us. Seeing him stuck in bed, frustrated that he couldn't control his body and mind any longer, made me cry like never before. It broke my heart that this once handsome and strong man who achieved everything he had on his own was now a skinny old man, waiting to be fed, shaved and taken care of, ravaged by this cruel disease. I could tell from the look in his wise bright blue eyes that it was painful for him, too.

Bunu and I had a special relationship. He was very stubborn, and the only person that he listened to was me. He loved me immensely and always mentioned how proud he was of what I achieved in life. According to him, we shared similar life stories, although I think his is far more impressive than mine. At the age of 14 he left the village he lived in, Dumbrava, Romania, hoping to find a job in Satu Mare so that he could go to high school, which only existed in bigger cities. It was right after WWII and Romania was ravaged by the war and exploited by communist Russia.

He managed to find a job as an apprentice at a grocery store and after a year he returned to his home town to visit his family. He saved all the money he made and then used it to buy himself a set of new clothes and presents for his parents. When my great grandmother saw him, she didn't recognize him at first. "Who are you looking for young man," she asked Bunu when he stopped in front of the house. "It's me, Lotica," he replied. She started crying tears of joy as she was so proud of her son. He left the little village as a poor boy and a year later he returned as a handsome, well-dressed man. My grandpa would later become the store manager at one of the few grocery stores that existed in the city during Ceausescu's communist regime. Everyone loved him because he would always help the poor with obtaining sugar or oil, which were rationed during those days.

This specific recipe has nothing to do with my grandfather. My upcoming trip just made me so nostalgic for the days I spent with him on his maroon bench admiring his beautiful garden.
The inspiration for this recipe actually came from one of my business trips to California earlier this year. I hope that this upcoming trip across two continents will also give me new inspiration for future posts. This dish is refreshing, fragrant, and bursting with flavors. Mussels may seem like an intimidating dish to pursue, but it’s really quite easy and quick once you clean them up. Use fresh baguette to soak up all that tasty curry sauce. Enjoy!

PEI MUSSELS WITH LEMONGRASS COCONUT CURRY

Serves 4
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 25 minutes

INGREDIENTS

2 TBS olive oil
2 small shallots, finely minced
2 cloves garlic, crushed and finely chopped
1 1/2 inches ginger root, crushed and finely chopped
1 serrano pepper, sliced
1 stalk (about 8 inches) lemongrass, trimmed and finely chopped
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp dried curry leaves, crumbled
1/2 tsp hot chili powder
1 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
1 tsp coriander, ground
1 cup dry white wine
1/2 medium lemon, juiced (about 1-2 TBS fresh lemon juice)
1 cup coconut milk, unsweetened
1 tsp fish sauce
salt, to taste
2 lbs mussels, scrubbed, rinsed and debearded
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped (for garnish)
1 French baguette

INSTRUCTIONS

In a deep skillet heat up oil over medium-high heat. When the oil is shimmering add the shallots and sauté for 2 minutes. Add garlic, ginger, serrano pepper and lemongrass and cook for another minute or two. Sprinkle with spices (turmeric, curry leaves, chili powder, black pepper and coriander) and pour wine and lemon juice in the skillet. Bring to a boil and let it simmer for 2 minutes.
Reduce the heat to medium. Add coconut milk and fish sauce. Cook for about 5-6 minutes. Taste the sauce and adjust seasoning to your liking.
Add the mussels, stir well and immediately cover with a well fitting lid. Cook for 5-6 minutes until mussels open. Remove from the heat, add fresh cilantro, gently stir mussels making sure each one gets coated with curry sauce.
Discard the mussels that aren't open. Serve in a bowl with a ladle of curry sauce and fresh cilantro. Use fresh or toasted baguette for dipping the curry sauce.

NOTES

I found this guide for cleaning mussels to be very helpful. When cleaning and debearding the mussels, discard the ones that stay open after you touched them or knocked against another mussel. It means it's dead and you should not eat it.

Curried Cauliflower and Chickpeas with Tahini Sauce

May 21, 2015 by Aurel Pop in Appetizer

Not even a month has passed since I posted my last cauliflower recipe. Last time it was the creamy and flavorful cauliflower risotto with schnitzel, now it's the fragrant roasted cauliflower and crispy chickpeas inspired by middle eastern cuisine. If you like this amazing and underrated vegetable, you're in the right place. Chances are that it will be the most featured vegetable on the blog, not only because of my endless love for cauliflower, but also because of Roni.

As mentioned in my previous post, Roni has this habit of sneaking cauliflower in our shopping cart every time we go grocery shopping. And we go once a week. On top of that, our local CSA also included a few of them in our recent delivery. At this pace, I'm afraid I'll run out of ideas for recipes before the end of the year.

My mom used to cook cauliflower a lot. It was very easy to grow, which meant that my grandfather, Bunu, would always have them in his garden. Luckily it isn't green like broccoli so it didn't scare me and my sister away from eating it when we were kids. My mom would take advantage our our fondness for cauliflower and get creative by making cauliflower soup, roasted cauliflower, fried cauliflower, cauliflower soufflé or even mashed cauliflower. And we'd eat it all without thinking twice.

I find that often people who eat something in huge quantities as kids will start hating that taste so much that when they grow up they lose interest in it completely. It was the opposite for me with cauliflower. Its taste reminds me of my mom. It reminds me of the good old days when I would hang around the kitchen while she cooked.

My dad on the other hand is not the biggest fan of cauliflower, so you can imagine the joy he had when we kept requesting it. He says that boiled cauliflower smells like fart. I think I will have to agree with him on that one, but cheeses smell bad too sometimes, but the taste compensates for the aroma.

One thing must be know about my dad- he has a very sensitive nose. I remember that one time while I was in high school I went to France with a friend of mine to a small town near the Swiss border called Besançon. My mom asked me to bring her back some cheeses. I brought home Camembert, Roquefort, Brie de Meaux, Époisses de Bourgogne and a few others. When my dad entered the house, he immediately turned around, refused to come back in and told us that we had to choose which stayed, him or the cheeses. And he wasn't joking. So we took all the goodies to my grandparents' place and had a huge cheese feast with fresh bread, honey and homemade jams.

The ingredients in this recipe shouldn't scare you away from trying it. I was intimidated at first by all the new spices and ingredients that I had access to in the US, but after a few failed attempts, I managed to get a good understanding of the flavors and uses. Don't be afraid to experiment with new flavors. You may discover a new favorite that you’ll wonder how you ever lived without it!

A few years ago, if you had asked me if I liked barberries I would've said, “Hell yeah!”— not because I actually knew what they were (I’m stubborn and likely wouldn’t have admitted not knowing that word anyway), but mostly because it had the word berries in its name, and I love me some berries. Barberries are truly amazing. They are specific to Persian cuisine where they are mostly used in rice and couscous, or served with chicken. You may find them under the name of zereshk at Persian or Middle Eastern stores. They bring a burst of color and an explosion of tartness to your dishes. I chose to add them to this recipe because their tangy and lemony flavor contrast well with the nuttiness of the chickpeas and tahini.

If you can't find them anywhere, worry not, replace them with dried red currants or dried sour cherries.

Curried Cauliflower and Chickpeas with Tahini Sauce

Serves 4
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 35 minutes

Ingredients

Curried Cauliflower

1 large head cauliflower
1/2 cup dried barberries
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp cardamom, ground
1/2 tsp coriander, ground
1/2 tsp cinnamon, ground
1/2 tsp curry leaves, dried
1/2 tsp black peppers, freshly ground
2 cans chickpeas, drained (14 oz each can)
2-3 TBS olive oil
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 lemon, juiced (1-2 TBS fresh lemon juice)
6-8 fresh mint leaves, finely chopped
1/4 cup parmesan cheese, freshly grated or shaved
salt, to taste

Tahini Sauce

1/2 cup raw tahini
1/2 tsp white pepper, ground
1/2 lemon, juiced
1/2 cup cold water
2-3 fresh mint leaves, finely chopped
salt, to taste

Instructions

Preheat oven to 425F (225C). Trim the leaves off the cauliflower and remove the stalk. The cauliflower will naturally fall apart into large florets. Cut these into small florets. Drain chickpeas and pat them dry with a paper towel. Soak barberries in warm water and set aside. Combine turmeric, cardamom, coriander, cinnamon, black pepper and curry leaves together.
Add cauliflower florets, chickpeas, olive oil, and curry spice mix to a large mixing bowl. Toss well and make sure the cauliflower and chickpeas are evenly coated with spices and oil.
Transfer the cauliflower and chickpea mix to a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Spread it out evenly and sprinkle smoked paprika on top. Don't go too crazy with the paprika though. If burned, paprika becomes bitter. Put the sheet in the oven and let it roast for about 35-40 minutes. Make sure that you toss it every now and then so that the cauliflower browns evenly and the chickpeas don't burn.
In the meantime, combine raw tahini, white pepper and lemon juice in a medium mixing bowl. Whisk well. Don't be alarmed if the lemon juice will make your tahini thick and lumpy. Keep whisking and start adding cold water until the sauce becomes smooth and silky. You can adjust the consistency of the sauce by adding more water. If you prefer a really thick sauce reduce the amount of water mentioned in the recipe. Toss in the chopped mint, taste and adjust the saltiness.
Remove the chickpeas and cauliflower from the oven and transfer the mix to a large bowl. Squeeze water out of the barberries and add it to the mix. Squeeze half a lemon, sprinkle chopped mint and grate parmesan on top. Add salt, taste and adjust seasoning.
Serve with the tahini either drizzled on top or on the side in a dipping bowl. Enjoy!