Lamb and Squash Khao Soi

I have been having a lot of fun working with American Lamb throughout the year. From visiting a lamb farm in Northern California, to judging the Lamb Jam in Boston (a lamb cooking competition they host each year) and then the championships in New York. The same dish won both; a smoked lamb khao soi from Honeypaw in Portland, Maine. American Lamb recently asked me to create a Friendsgiving dish to participate in their holiday season fundraising efforts for No Kid Hungry. I knew I wanted to make the khao soi to tie together my experience, but with an autumnal spin. I added squash to the dish which lent a bit of Fall flavor to the curry, making it a great appetizer to compliment other entrees and sides at the Friendsgiving table.

It also got some nice caramelization.

All the curry paste ingredients.

Put them into the mortar and pestle one by one and smash it all into a paste.

Yum.  The smell at this point is fantastic.

Cook the paste in the pan for a few minutes just to take the raw flavor out.

Coconut milk and squash go in, along with some of the fibrous parts of the lemongrass. Let is simmer until the squash is tender, then remove the lemongrass and blend it up.

Finally, add the lamb along with the juices in the pan.

Meanwhile, fry some of the noodles and boil the rest.

Put the noodles into the bowl, then the soup, then the crunchy noodles on top.

I like a little scallion in there too. I used a recipe from my favorite cookbook, Pok Pok as the base for this soup, then added my twists with the lamb and squash.  Like anything else from Pok Pok, this came out amazing.

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Lamb and Squash Khao Soi

The classic Thai soup is remade with tender shredded lamb and pureed squash.

Prep Time30 minutes mins

Cook Time5 hours hrs

Total Time5 hours hrs 30 minutes mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American, Lao, Thai

Keyword: fried, Soup, Spicy

Servings: 6 servings

Ingredients

Lamb

• 2 pounds American Lamb Shoulder chopped into 1 inch cubes
• 2 cups coconut milk
• 1/4 cup sambol chile paste
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 2 teaspoons cumin
• 1 teaspoon salt

Curry Paste

• 1 teaspoon cardamom pods
• 2 teaspoons coriander seed
• 1 teaspoon cumin seed
• 7 fresh thai chilis sliced
• 4 stalks lemongrass tender insides sliced rough outer parts reserved
• 1 thumb sized peice galangal peeled and thin sliced against grain
• 2 thumb sized peices ginger peeled and thin sliced against the grain
• 4 cloves garlic
• 2 shallots

Finish

• 1 small butternut squash about 3 cups of cubed squash
• 1 quart chicken stock
• 1 quart coconut milk
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• 1/4 cup fish sauce
• 2 ounces palm sugar
• 1 pound fresh wonton noodles
• chopped callions for garnish

Instructions

• Mix the lamb in a baking dish with the other lamb ingredients. Bake at 300 for about 4 hours until tender and shreddy, stirring once or twice during cooking and adding water if needed.
• Make the curry paste by adding all the ingredients to a mortar and pestle, starting with the dry ones and mashing them to a powder, then adding each ingredient, in order, one by one, and smashing until mostly smooth. Season with salt
• Add some oil to a large pot and saute the curry paste on medium heat for about 7 minutes until fragrant and the raw garlic and onion smell is cooked off.
• Add the squash and stir well. Add in the stock and coconut milk and mix, sraping any bits off the bottom that may have collected.
• Stir in the turmeric, curry powder, fish sauce, and palm sugar. Add the fibrous stalks from the lemongrass. Bring to a simmer and cook about 30 minutes until the squash is tender.
• Remove the lemongrass stalks and blend the soup smooth with a stick blender.
• Add the lamb to the soup and all the sauce and juices from the pan along with it.
• Meanwhile, bring water to a boil, and heat a thin layer of oil in a frying pan.
• Take a handful of the raw noodles and fry them in the oil until crispy, brown, and blistering.
• Take the rest of the noodles and boil them in the water for 3 minutes until tender.
• Build the soup by first putting some cooked noodles into a bowl, then ladleing in the broth with that tender shredded lamb, and then topping with the crispy noodles and some scallions. Serve immedietly.