Now that we know how to make tempeh, it’s time to use it!
Khao Soi is a spicy Thai coconut curry soup served with noodles and usually chicken, which we will substitute with tempeh. It’s super creamy thanks to the coconut milk, full of Thai flavors and quite easy to make.
As I said, this soup is easy and takes less than one hour to make. It starts with shallots, ginger, and garlic that are sautéed until soft, then comes the red curry paste that makes this soup very aromatic.
Traditionally, Khao Soi also requires shrimp paste to give it more complex flavors. In place of the shrimp paste, I used a combination of seaweed and dried shiitake, it gives the soup a subtle “fish” flavor. Don’t worry it’s not overpowering.
The seaweed is first placed in an empty tea bag (or tea ball) and simmered with the coconut milk, vegetable broth, and red curry paste for a good 10 minutes. Once the soup is done, just remove the tea bag! By using a tea bag you don’t have to strain the soup, less mess.
Tempeh adds protein as well as texture. The marinade is a combination of soy sauce, maple syrup, sesame oil, cashew butter and ground cumin. Feel free to add your favorite spices in there, I’m thinking coriander, cardamom, or even smoked paprika for a hint of smokiness!
For the toppings, I went with fresh parsley (because fresh coriander is definitely not my thing, eww), lime, red onion, and peanuts. Now I’m thinking roasted cashews would have been awesome too!
While this dish is a bit higher in fat than usual, it’s so delicious you won’t feel guilty about having this once in a while!
Let me know in the comments if you try this recipe!
If you are looking for more Thai-inspired dishes, check out my Big Thai Peanut Quinoa Salad, Portobello Chop Suey Bolls or this Thai Sweet Potato Noodles Soup!
Tempeh Khao Soi
Ingredients
Tempeh
- 7 ounces tempeh
- 1 tsp cashew or almond butter
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1/4 tsp cumin
Khao Soi Soup
- 6 ounces rice noodles or wheat noodles if not gluten-free
- 1 shallot minced
- 1 clove of garlic minced
- 1 inch ginger grated
- 1 and 1/2 tbsp red curry paste
- 1 13.5-ounce can full-fat coconut milk or light for a lower calorie option
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp coconut sugar
- 1/4 tsp turmeric
- 1 whole dried shiitake
- 2 tsp seaweed
- 2 tbsp lime juice
- optional toppings: peanuts, lime, fresh parsley, sliced red onion
Instructions
Tempeh
- Start by cutting the tempeh into bite-size cubes or triangles.
- In a large bowl, prepare the marinade by combining the cashew butter, soy sauce, maple syrup, sesame oil, and cumin. If the marinade is too thick, add 1-2 tbsp water.
- Add the diced tempeh to the marinade bowl and stir to coat. Let marinade for at least half an hour, two is better.
Khao Soi Soup
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook the noodles according to the package instructions.
- In the meantime, heat a tablespoon of oil in a large saucepan. Add shallot, garlic, and ginger and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in the red curry paste and cook for another minute, stirring regularly to make sure it doesn’t stick to the bottom.
- Add the coconut milk, vegetable broth, soy sauce, coconut sugar, turmeric, and dried shiitake. Place the seaweed in an empty tea bag or tea ball, this way it will be easier to remove later. Add it to the saucepan.
- Bring to a light boil and let simmer for 12-15 minutes. Remove from heat, discard the seaweed tea bag and shiitake. Stir in the lime juice. Taste and adjust the seasonings if needed. Cover and set aside while you cook the tempeh.
- Heat a tablespoon of oil in a skillet over medium heat. Once hot, add the tempeh and cook until it starts to brown, stirring regularly. Deglaze the skillet with the remaining marinade, and remove from heat.
- To serve: pour 3/4 cup of soup in a small bowl, add some noodles, and top with tempeh, fresh parsley, peanuts and a drizzle of lime juice.
Hi Thomas! Looks delicious. One tip I discovered for tempeh is that if you soak the cubed tempeh in brine (for 250g cubed tempeh, add in 2 cups hot water and 2 teaspoons of salt) for at least 5 mins (I usually do it for longer), it’s really good for removing the bitter taste of the tempeh. Cheers!
Thanks for sharing Monique! That’s a great tip!
I usually boil tempeh for 10 minutes but I will try your method with brine next time 😉
This sounds great! How many does this feed?
Nevermind, found it!
It is delicious!! I did use only 1/4 tbs of red curry paste because I don’t like it too spicy. Thank you so much for the recipe.
You’re welcome Elvira! I noticed that not all curry paste have the same spiciness, some are very strong while others are not.
Had this bookmarked to make for a while now. Finally made it for dinner… WOW! So incredibly tasty. I could only find sliced dried shiitake mushrooms and decided to keep them in the soup. It was a great choice. Keeping this recipe handy to make again. Thanks!
Thanks for the feedback Srivani! 🙂 Glad to hear you liked it!
This was delicious! Will probably make it again. Thanks for the recipe.
Thanks for the feedback Vix! 🙂
Delish! Made this yesterday and it came out so well.
Awesome! Thanks for your rating!
We made this for dinner tonight and it turned out really good. Used the recipe as a guide, we didn’t go exactly according to plan. One thing to note, we spiralized two zucchini in place of the noodles. I would add some more heat to the dish to improve it.
This was so GOOD!! I’ve tried making several Vegan dishes the past week, and all of them were very bland; after spending a long time working on them I was not impressed. But this dish was simple to make and definitely the most flavorful meal I’ve had for awhile! Thank you so much!
Cilantro is the heart of Vietnamese food! Defiantly top with that 🙂
You can top with your favorite herbs!
Parsley and maple syrup? This is wrong on so many levels.
This is an inspired recipe…Thanks for your interesting input.
All I can say is Wow. Seeing this recipe brought me back to Chiang Mai. We had some good red curry paste, unfortunately no tempeh under lockdown/quarantine, and had to swap onion for shallot but came out AMAZING and between 3-4 people was gone in under 10 minutes. Looking forward to making the complete version (and doubling the recipe) in the near future. Thanks!!
So glad to hear you loved this recipe Ali! 🙂
Thanks for your feedback and rating!
So excited to try this! What type of rice noodles do you use, and what kinds of wheat noodles would be most similar to them?
Thank you!
I used flat white rice noodles, a bit similar to pho noodles. Linguine would be good for this recipe.
So delicious! I ended up using linguine, which was perfect. Also added some kale because kale. Thank you for another great recipe.
Thanks for your feedback Ellie 🙂
So delicious! Ended up using linguine which was perfect. I also threw in some kale because kale. Thank you for another great recipe!
One of the best soup I’ve had in my life.
Oh thank you Maryse! 🙂
Tellement bon!
Everything about this dish is excellent and surprisingly easy to make with a limited number of ingredients. Will be on rotation in my house.
Merci Renée !
Love your blog Thomas! I finally decided to try and this it was great! I have been longing for Khao soi since I lived in Chiang Mai a couple years ago (I wasn’t plant based then), so thank you for the recipe 🙂 the only issue I had was the noodles I used, I used normal flat rice noodles but I don’t like the texture (I find them slimey) I like the vermicilli noodles but I’m not sure which would be another good gluten-free alternative? Thanks, Chris 🙂
Thanks for your kind words Christina!
You could try cooking the noodles and bit less. Another tip to remove the slimy texture, is to rinse them under cold water to remove the starches.
Delicious! I didn’t have dried shiitake or seaweed but it was a success anyway. Also, I added carrots for a bit of veggies. Everyone loved it.
Thanks for your feedback Katherine! 🙂
Wow this recipe was sooo delicious! I didn’t have dried mushroom or seaweed so I used 1 tsp of vegan fish sauce instead. It was delicious and I can’t stop eating it!
Thanks for your feedback Sabina! 🙂