Khanom Jin Nomya

I think this recipe was intended to be mroe colorful, but I did use green Thai cillies instead of
dried chile de arbol, a decision I pass along for flavor, although red thai chillies might help the color out.

Don't be fooled, this neither tastes like a typical white sauce pasta, nor does it have the heaviness you may associate with alfredo.

Khanom Jin Nomya

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Coking Time: 30 minutes

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients:

1 1/2 - 2 lbs catfish chunks (deboned)

1 anchovy, rinsed of oil

1 stalk lemongrass, with the outer layers removed and sliced into thirds

1/2 cup fingerroot, chopped

2 tsp galangal, grated

8 thai chillies, seeded and chopped

1/4 cup garlic cloves, peeled

1/4 cup shallots, peeled

1 1/2 cups coconut milk

2 tbsp fish sauce

4 bundles somen noodles

4 sprigs thai basil

Substitutions:

fingerroot - ginger (will be somewhat less fragrant)

galangal - ginger (will be somewhat less fragrant)

shallots - small onions

fish sauce - worcestershire sauce

somen noodles - angel hair pasta

thai basil - sweet basil

lemongrass - lemon zest or lemon balm

Cooking:

Place catfish in a pan with 3 cups boiling water. Cook around 15 minutes, or until the fish is done. Remove the fish, but keep the liquid. Add the anchovy, lemongrass, and chilli peppers and boil for ten minutes. Add the shallots and garlic and boil for another five minutes.

Remove all ingredients from the liquid (reserving the liquid) and place them all, along with the catfish, in a fod processor and grind into a paste, adding just enough reserved cooking liquid to make the consistency right.

Prepare the noodles according tot he directions on their package.

In a smal pot, heat the paste to warm, and add the coconut milk and fish sauce.

Mix the noodles and paste, and serve garnish with the Thai basil sprigs.