Northern Thai Pork & Tomato Curry Noodles
A Thai Comfort Food
I admit it. I tend to go a bit above and beyond in the kitchen. The more difficult the recipe, the better. Scouring the internet for a challenging recipe with hard-to-find ingredients? Of course! 23 ingredients. Definitely! Three days of cooking for one dish. Yes, please!!!
This dish was no exception.
I meticulously planned everything and gathered my ingredients. But that’s when I hit a snag. I found that, of all the ingredients I had, and even with hard-to-find items like pork blood cubes, I didn’t have one of the simplest: no-sodium chicken stock.
Pictured above: Pork Blood Cubes (which taste like liver)
Instead of driving at least half an hour one way to the nearest store that might have it, I opted to make it. I’m not new to making stocks. I make tonkotsu broth—a 12-plus-hour endeavor—but this time, I had to make it quick, so I used my pressure cooker.
The next item? Curry. The curry in this recipe is not the usual curry that you find at most grocery stores—at least here in northeastern Wisconsin. As with the stock, I had to make it from scratch, and once again, I needed to speed things up. So instead of pounding the ingredients in a mortar and pestle, I used an immersion blender.
Now that I had the chicken stock and curry on hand, it was time to put the dish together. All of the ingredients went into my stockpot and simmered for an hour and a half. The house smelled incredible. Then I tucked it away in the refrigerator overnight to let the flavors mingle.
The next day was easy. I reheated what I had made the day before, boiled some rice vermicelli, and served it with condiments such as pickled mustard greens, fried garlic, roasted chili flakes, and lime wedges.
So, was all the effort worth it? Yes! This recipe did not disappoint. I can’t describe all the different flavors in this rich, savory concoction that exist together in angelic harmony, but Doug can. His seal of approval? “Heavenly!”