Curry Noodle Soup (Mi Kari)

This is an all time Malaysian favorite, a bowl of piping hot curry soup served with noodles and toppings such as chicken, pork, cockles, shrimp and tofu. It goes with the name Mi Kari or Laksa Kari. I used to eat it at least once a week and I see that Vance is catching on with my childhood craze. While this is not a traditional recipe, it's the closest I can get without buying a plane ticket back to Malaysia. This recipe is quite easy to make, the hardest part is to stop eating it! I've only tasted Ipoh style Curry Noodle Soup so there might be some other variations out there.

Ingredient A:
1 onion, sliced
1 cup red chillies, sliced
1/2 cup dried chillies
4 cloves garlic
1/2 cup water

1 cup curry powder
1/2 cup Massaman curry paste
1/2 cup oil
1 cinnamon stick
2 sticks lemongrass, halved
3 cans coconut milk (400mL)
2 vegetable or chicken bouillon (2 1/8 oz.)
2 1/2 qts. water
Salt to taste

Toppings:
Chicken breast, poached and shredded
Shrimp, shelled and cooked
Fried tofu cakes, sliced

Yellow noodles, blanched
Bean sprouts, blanched
Mint leaves
Lime, cut into wedges
Fried Onions

Add ingredient A into a food processor or blender and puree into a paste. Mix curry powder and curry paste into the puree. Set aside.

Heat oil in a large pot. When it's hot, add in cinnamon stick and lemongrass. Fry for a minute. Turn heat to low. Add in the pureed spices and fry until it is fragrant, for about 20 minutes. Make sure you stir constantly or the spice would burn. Add in water, coconut milk and bouillon. Turn the heat back up to high. Cover the pot and let it boil. Turn the heat to medium when soup is in rolling boil. Simmer for about an hour and add salt to taste.

To serve, put enough yellow noodle and bean sprouts in a bowl. Top with toppings of your choice (omit chicken and shrimp for vegetarian option) and mint leaves. Pour enough curry soup into the bowl. Sprinkle some fried onions on top. Serve hot with lime wedges.