By Michael Minorgan for Curtains Up
www.globalgourmets.ca michael@globalgourmets.ca
Laksa
Laksa is a wonderfully flavoured soup popular throughout Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore. It is a delicious and hearty soup typical of Peranakan cuisine very popular in this region of South East Asia. There are basically two types of laksa, a curry laksa infused with coconut milk and an asam laksa, a sour fish soup with noodles. This recipe is of the curry based variety found typically in Kuala Lampour and Singapore (1)
The preparation takes a bit of effort , but the final result is worth every moment. Laksas can be made with chicken, seafood, fish or simply vegetarian with added tofu. It is worth your while to make the Malaysian Curry Paste yourself in a blender, although you may be able to find it already prepared in Asian grocery stores….Enjoy!
(1) Wikipedia
Ingredients
Stock
3 tablespoons oil
Malaysian Curry Paste to taste
2 cups chicken stock
2 cups water
2 stalks lemongrass (white part only, pounded)
5 kaffir lime leaves
10 tofu puffs, cut into pieces
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1/2 cup coconut milk
Salt to taste
Other Ingredients
Rice noodles
Bean sprouts
10 shrimp, peeled, deveined, and cooked
3 hard-boiled eggs, quartered
white fish cut into pieces
Method:
- In a stockpot, add the oil and sauté the instant curry paste until aromatic.
- Add the chicken broth, water, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, tofu puffs and bring the stock to boil.
- Lower the heat to simmer. Add the coconut milk and evaporated milk. Add salt to taste. Keep the stock on simmer.
- Rinse the noodles, drained and set aside. Soak the noodles with some warm water until soft, drained and set aside.
- To assemble a bowl of laksa for serving, bring to boil some noodles, and a handful of bean sprouts. Drain the noodles and transfer to a serving bowl.
- Top the noodles with 2-3 shrimp, a few pieces of fish and 1-2 egg quarters.
- Using a ladle, pour the laksa broth and a few pieces of tofu puffs on top of the noodles.
- Serve immediately.
Malaysian Curry Paaste
4 small shallots peeled and chopped
2 inch piece of ginger, peeled and sliced
18 cloves of garlic
5 small red birds eye chills
40g fresh turmeric, peeled and sliced
80g fresh galangal, peeled and sliced
8-10 kaffir lime leaves
1 tablespoon lemongrass paste
Method
Combine all ingredients in a food processor and process to an almost smooth paste. Alternatively grind all ingredients in a mortar and pestle.
