Northern Noodles · Tomato Pork Sauce

Khao Soi (Luang Prabang Style)

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Despite sharing its name with Northern Thailand's coconut curry noodles, Lao khao soi is a completely different dish — a clear broth topped with a tomato and minced pork sauce, with no curry or coconut milk anywhere in it.

Steamed sheets of rice batter are rolled and hand-sliced into wide noodle ribbons, then ladled into a clear pork, chicken, or beef broth and topped with a semi-thick sauce of minced pork, tomato, garlic, and fermented soybean paste. Vendors in Luang Prabang still hand-cut the noodles fresh each morning.

Why it's made this way: Luang Prabang and neighboring Luang Namtha are considered the birthplace of Lao khao soi, a legacy of Chin Haw traders who carried Yunnanese noodle techniques into northern Laos generations ago.