By Jinnykim’s Kitchen
Prep time – 1 Hour; Cooking time – 30-45 minutes; Total time approximate – 1.45 hours
I always love rice noodles in different ways. In Thai dish’s we have our own cuisine regions and each region uses different ingredients like in curry sauce for noodles in Northeastern where I was born and raised we use Krachai or Fingerroot (Wild Ginger) in curry, but in Southern region they use Turmeric instead and the Southern curry is more yellow and more spicy then other regions. In the traditional dish of Kanom Jeen Nam Ya Tai they use fish or crab but because of one of my family doesn’t eat fish I used chicken instead but if you don’t eat any meat or are vegan you can use some other ingredients as you prefer.
The recipe of this curry will be more yellow because I used fresh Turmeric in the paste for coconut based curry. The rice noodles I used are ready made vermicelli noodles for Kanom Jeen (rice Noodles) you can buy them in any Asian grocery. They have different sizes depending on what you like and they are easy to make. Just boil the water, add noodles and boil for 10 minutes or until cooked then transfer into cold water to stop them cooking, then fold with your two fingers to gently squeeze water out then transfer noodles into sieve and set aside for serving.
Ingredients for Curry paste
Ingredients for curry paste
10 Dried Red chilies Or Red Pepper (seeds removed)
10 Fresh red chillies (I used hot red chilies)
2 tbsp lemongrass thinly sliced
2 tbsp galangal thinly sliced
3 tbsp fresh turmeric peeled and chopped into small pieces
6 garlic cloves
4 shallots (if small size use 6)
1 tbsp white pepper
1 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp shrimp paste
Method for the curry paste
This time I used a blender to make the paste because it is quicker than if I used a mortar and pestle. Add all ingredients into the blender add 3 tbsp of water to help blend, if it is still difficult add a bit more water until the paste is smooth. After the paste is ready I recommend wash your blender with hot water straight away otherwise your blender will stain yellow from the turmeric.
Ingredients for Nam Ya Tai
4 chicken breast
600ml coconut cream
400ml coconut milk
200g curry paste (you can use less or more depending on how spicy you like)
1L of water for boiling the chicken
2 tbsp salt for boiling chicken
1 1/2 block of palm sugar (50g per block – you can use less or more depending on what brand of palm sugar you use )
1 tbsp salt
2 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp soy sauce (you can use fish sauce, but because the smell of fish sauce is a bit strong for my partner I use soy sauce instead)
4 kaffir lime leaves
Methods for Nam Ya
- In a large pot add 1L of water and turn on high heat add sea salt when the water starts to boil, add chicken and cook for 45 minutes or until chicken is cooked well.
- Slice chicken into small pieces then mash the chicken by using mortar and pestle. Set aside. Keep the water from the boiled chicken for later.
- In the large pot add coconut cream and curry paste, stir until well mixed, turn heat on medium and cook for 2-3 minutes to make sure all spices are dissolved, and you will get fragrant aromas. Add palm sugar, soy sauce and salt then add coconut milk and 1 cup of stock from boiled chicken water. Wait until boiling then add chicken. If the sauce is too thick add a bit more of chicken water then stir and simmer. While you simmer stir every 2 minutes and taste – and add some salt or palm sugar depending on flavour balance. Let curry simmer for 20-30 minutes on low heat.
- Taste again and add lime juice, then turn off the heat and add kaffir lime.
Serve with your choice of vegetable as much as you like. For my dish I used bean sprouts, green bean, cucumbers, carrots, and fried chilies. Hope you are enjoying my recipes.
Jinnykim’s Kitchen 