COOKING NOTES FOR THE YELLOW CURRY NOODLES RECIPE
USING LEMONGRASS
For the broth, I made a paste by blending onions, garlic, ginger, scallions, lemongrass, coriander, curry, and Thai chilis for heat. I know lemongrass is one of those ingredients that may seem intimidating to use. For convenience, I typically use Gourmet Garden’s lemongrass paste. It comes in a squeeze tube that is filled with minced lemongrass, along with some oils so that the lemongrass can release easily. One important note for those of you who are vegan: the paste contains whey (from milk). If you want to use fresh lemongrass, you’ll need 2 to 3 stalks. Slice off the end of the lemongrass, and remove the outer layers, about 3 to 5, depending on the thickness of the stalks. You may need to trim the end of the lemongrass a few more times so you can peel the layers off more easily. Slice off the top 1/3 or 1/2 of the lemongrass stalk and discard it (it’s incredibly woody and doesn’t have much flavor. Then, slice the rest of the stalk into 2 to 3-inch chunks. You can bash the lemongrass to help release flavor. Add them directly into the pot when you add the flavor paste. Fish out these chunks before serving the broth (lemongrass is dry and woody, so you probably won’t want to eat it). Read my post here for more information about how to cook with lemongrass.
NOODLES TO USE FOR THIS RECIPE
On any given day, I use whatever dry noodles I have in my pantry. On the day that I shot the photos, I happened to have wide rice noodles on hand. You can use thinner rice noodles, rice noodle vermicelli, mung bean noodles, or even zucchini or butternut squash noodles. The broth is the real star of the dish, so feel free to play around with the noodles.
WHAT ARE TOFU PUFFS?
I love fried tofu puffs, particularly in noodle soups, because they absorb the flavors of any broth or sauce. You will need to go to an Asian supermarket to find them, particularly ones that sell Chinese or Japanese food. The ones you see in a Japanese supermarket (あぶらあげ, aburaage) are shaped like thin rectangles. You can slice those up into thinner strips to serve in this curry noodle soup. I understand that those tofu puffs are not always easy to find. If you are looking for a substitute, try the five-spice pan-fried tofu I have in this recipe. If you are not vegetarian, you can add shrimp or chicken to the dish. Also, feel free to customize the vegetables to your taste! Sometimes, I like adding bok choy, or baby bok choy, zucchini noodles, purple cabbage, or sliced red bell peppers to the mix.
LOOKING FOR MORE NOODLE SOUP RECIPES?
Ginger Miso Udon Noodles with Five-Spice TofuZucchini Noodles with Tomato and Coconut BrothHot and Sour Coconut Noodle SoupEasy Green Curry NoodlesYou can also browse all of my noodle recipes here (there are a lot).
