Food of the Southern Silk Road - The history of khao soi
When you come to Chiang Mai. Forget all about chicken with cashew nuts, beef in oyster sauce and sweet and sour pork. Try Khao Soi instead, one of the dishes really associated with northern Thailand. But what is today a typical northern thai dish has ,according to some ,a shanburmese name and roots back to southern China (in chinese the dish is called something like "ming") and even the Turkish-Muslim cuisine. 

The history of this popular lunch dish actually gives testify about the entire region's ethnic diversity. It tells about exciting cultural meetings, where the trade between different areas created a whole new food culture in the region. Khao Soi appears to have been introduced to Thailand by chinese haw muslims from Yunnan. The haw, in their turn, are originally a turkish people from Central Asia, that in the 13th century worked for the great Khublai Khan to guard the Yunnan region, while he was planning his invasion of the Pagan Empire in Burma.

In return for their effort, they were offered to take chinese wifes and several generations later, they have adopted a more chinese appearance. 

Haw people became over time the southern Silk Road merchants. Trade between Yunnan, Thailand, Burma and Laos relied on on them, and while they were trading they spread their food culture as well, and when it met tai/shan culture. The splendid taste of modern khao soi was the result. One addition from tai culture is said to be the coconut milk. Khao soi later spread throughout Chiang Mai, since this was the city where the trade caravans finished. Later on when more and more haw chinese came to work on the railway between Chiang Mai and Bangkok, the haw kitchen gained even more influence (see Early travelers of Chiang Mai).

Khao Soi is in many ways the ultimate composition of food. It consists of coconut milk, fresh egg noodles, and on top, crispy yellow egg noodles, a kind of chilli sauce, lime, and then topping with pickles, shallots and dried chilli if you so desire. In most cases it is based on chicken. It can also be made as a vegetarian dish if you wish. 

The fun is to see when foreigners are served a bowl of khao soi the first time. Chopsticks and a spoon are provided!

- Eating soup with chopsticks - the puzzled tourist exclaims!? 

So then, Khao Soi isn´t really a soup, or to put it more correct; it is more than just soup!

Khao Soi is a  curry noodle soup. The dish is best described that way. Not as simple as soup and more than noodles - the ultimate blend of curry, soup and noodles. I mean why have only soup when you can have curry and why eat only curry when you can add noodles. Just Brilliant! A well-cooked Khao Soi really satisfies the needs of your taste buds, strong, mild, slightly sweet, sour ,and slight touch of bitternes, which comes from the pickled vegetables.

Please join us for Khao Soi at The Northern Rose. We will be presenting some of Chiang Mais Khao Soi restaurants in our upcoming posts.

You can also find other storys related to khao soi on the TNR Reference Archives [@Twine_official]

^PS