Coconut Curry Noodle Soup

Coconut curry soup steamy, sweet, and spicy. Image by author.

A love for spicy food came in my early 20s when I traveled and lived in countries with cultures that integrated peppers into so many flavorful recipes. While I’d eaten Thai food in college, I learned to cook with ingredients core to the cuisine after falling in love with wide variety of dishes I tried while wandering around Thai cities and villages during solo adventures. There are few things I crave more than the culinary wonders I was lucky enough to experience when I worked my way through the street food and night market culinary scenes popular in Southeast Asia.

This coconut curry soup recipe blends tom yum’s brothiness with a traditional coconut curry. I’ve also added noodles to transform the soup into a filling meal. Full of vegetables with a chewy fried tofu for protein, it’s a go-to dinner that holds up well for next-day leftovers as long as you store the noodles separately from the soup base.

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Coconut Curry Noodle Soup

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 1 (14 to 15-ounce) block of extra-firm tofu, cubed

• 5 tablespoons grapeseed oil (or other high-heat oil), divided

• 1/4 cup red curry paste

• 1 large carrot, sliced

• 1 1/2 cups shiitake mushrooms, stems removed and caps sliced

• 2 14-ounce cans of coconut milk

• 1 quart low-sodium chicken broth (substitute with vegetable broth to keep vegetarian)

• 3 tablespoons fish sauce (substitute with low-sodium tamari to keep vegetarian)

• 1 tablespoon dark brown sugar

• 3 cups chopped dark leafy greens (I often use baby bok choy.)

• 8 ounces noodles (I've used udon, soba, ramen, rice and wide egg noodles, all with great results.)

• optional but recommended, any or all: sliced chilis, chili sauce or chili oil, chopped cilantro, chopped basil, lime wedges, chopped toasted peanuts

Directions

1. Heat a large wok, add 3 tablespoons oil and heat on medium-high. When the oil is hot, add the tofu and arrange so that all the pieces have a side touching the pan. Allow the sides touching the pan to brown before turning. When the tofu is crispy on most sides (this usually takes about 10 minutes), remove the pan from heat, transfer the tofu to a paper-towel-lined plate, and set aside until needed.

2. While the tofu fries, bring a large pot of water to a boil, and cook noodles according to directions until the noodles are almost done but still a tad undercooked. Drain and rinse in cold water, and set aside. (It's better to have slightly chewy noodles than ones that are perfectly cooked that will then become a gummy mess when added to the soup.)

3. Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil in a soup pot over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add curry paste, carrots, and mushrooms. Stir to combine, and then cook until the vegetables have softened/partially cooked, about 3-4 minutes.

4. Now, add coconut milk, broth, fish sauce (or tamari, if substituting), and brown sugar to the soup pot. Place the lid on the pot, increase heat to high, and bring to a boil.

5. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer soup base for 15 minutes.

6. Finally, add noodles to your large soup bowls, toss in some tofu, pour brothy soup over the noodles and tofu, top with whatever garnishes you like from the ingredients list, and enjoy.