Jet Tila Uses This Canned Coconut Milk Hack When Making His Favorite Noodle Dish

As a professional chef from Los Angeles' Thai Town, Jet Tila has brought his skills to a variety of Asian dishes, marking Thai and Chinese cuisines as his specialties. His favorite noodle recipe is khao soi, prepared in the style of his mother's home of Northern Thailand. Khao soi deviates from typical North Thai cuisine in its use of coconut milk, which is an ingredient that's traditionally associated with parts of the country where coconut trees are more abundant. This is important to note, as fresh coconut isn't commonly found in most parts of the United States, either.

As a convenient alternative, Tila uses canned coconut milk in an ingenious way. On his Instagram, he revealed that he builds the curry base of khao soi by using the cream layer formed on top of canned coconut milk. This has the right amount of flavor and fat to fry the curry paste, creating a fragrant foundation for the rest of the curry's ingredients.

Some Thai recipes rely on fresh, regional ingredients to bring out the fullest flavor. Curry is often made from seasonings and pastes ground in a mortar and pestle, comparable to using a molcajete for fresh guacamole instead of buying a bad store-bought container. However, Jet Tila, among several others, uses canned ingredients, including the curry paste, for khao soi.

Choosing canned coconut milk for khao soi

There are multiple different brands of canned coconut milk on the market, and they might seem interchangeable at a glance. Small distinctions in ingredients and texture can impact the delicate flavors of Thai curry. Many Thai dishes have around four flavor profiles at once, usually referred to as sweet, sour, salty, and spicy. Coconut milk is a big player for the sweet component, and its fat content is a texture stabilizer.

For khao soi, make sure that you're getting coconut milk and not coconut cream (unless you want a super thick and hearty curry). You'll also want to keep low-fat coconut milk out of your shopping cart because it can have the opposite effect of leaving your curry too watery, evaporating rather than frying the paste. Full-fat, unsweetened canned coconut milk is the standard for most recipes.

Grab a Thai brand like Aroy-D if possible, as they're meant for cooking into sauces, curries, and soups. For an affordable and accessible alternative, go with the Trader Joe's brand. It's organic and tends to form a nice layer of cream at the top that should work well with Jet Tila's khao soi curry hack.

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