Yunnanese Khao Soi

This is not the more popular Chiang Mai style khao soi noodles – egg noodles in a curry sauce. This is the khao soi version that I grew up eating. Chiang Mai khao soi is said to have originated from versions from the Shan region of Burma and the Yunnan region of China. Learn more about the Khao Soi here.

Since my family is from Yunnan, I grew up eating this version. Unfortunately, I do not have a recipe. I’ve been meaning to learn from my aunt or grandma but haven’t gotten around to it.

The meat sauce is the base for the soup. It can last for months in the refrigerator or freezer. I'm not sure why the sauce doesn't go bad. Maybe because the liquid is completely removed during the cooking process or because the meat is suspended in oil or because of the special preservation properties of the fermented soy beans.

Khao Soi is a quick and delicious weeknight meal. I combine boiled rice noodles, boiling water, shredded cabbage, green onions, coriander leaves, soy sauce, fish sauce and a heaping spoonful of the meat sauce.

The sauce is usually made with pork but because I decided to stop eating red meat, my brother decided to stop eating pork and my sister decided to stop eating meat entirely, my grandmother made a ground chicken version of the sauce and even made a vegetarian version using chopped up mushrooms.

The sauce is made with ground pork, tomatoes, fermented soy beans, dried red chilies and a lot of oil. I think the key is to have really good fermented soy beans. Fermented soy beans is a real project that I have never attempted. I get jars of it from my grandmother or aunt.

This is the meat sauce. It is packed with tons of flavor.

You put all the ingredients in the bowl and then add the boiling water. I usually use green cabbage but the store was out so I bought the red cabbage instead.

I usually do my blog cooking during the weekends but this weekend was a bit hectic. On Saturday we went to Rockies Fest. The bf happened to score some tickets to this event. The event was awesome. I've seen a lot of Coors Field but with these tickets, we had access to rooms that even the media are not allowed to enter. I got tons of autographs. I even got Clint Barmes to autograph my baseball in red ink. (I was coached on the importance of color and placement of autographs.)

The diamond is covered in snow.

Todd Helton's stuff in the Rockies' Club House.

Tulo's stuff.

Ryan Spilborghs, answering a question during the interview session. One of my coworkers (who was part of the 2004 Olympic team) went to school with him at UC Santa Barbara. I really love the Rockies club. The guys are all very down to earth and they all seem to get along. I think my new favorite player is Dexter Fowler.

I took more pictures of more players, the batting cage, the umpire's area, the museum, the massage room and even the urinals in the visiting team's club house. Those pictures will be uploaded on my picasa page.