Malaysian Laksa

Chef floWer's Note:

Laksa is a Malaysian soup made from laksa flavour spicy curry, coconut cream, noodles, prawns/shrimp, chicken and lots of fresh toppings. This recipe is considered to be a cheat version because it uses laksa paste, however the results are still very yummy. You can vary the ingredients in the soup to your own taste. I had trouble finding fish balls and fried tofu puffs in my region so I replace the balls with extra green prawns/shrimp and fried my own tofu (I cut them into 1 cm by 1 cm cubes). This recipe is from SBS's Food Safari and is made by Aryan Mansor

• Total Time: 1 hrs
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

Spice Paste

• 4 -5 shallots , chopped
• 6 -7 garlic cloves , chopped
• 1 piece gingerroot , peeled and chopped (Thumb size)
• 1 red chile , fresh (more or less, depending to your taste)
• 1 tablespoon driedprawns or 1 tablespoon dried shrimp
• ½ cup water

Prawn or Shrimp Flavoured Oil

• 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 12 raw greenprawns or 12 green shrimp , shelled and divined

Laksa Broth

• 180 ml laksa paste
• 1 liter chicken stock or 1 liter vegetable stock
• 400 ml coconut cream
• 320 g fish balls (optional)
• 320 g fried tofu , puffs halved (fried tofu puffs)
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 3 tablespoons fish sauce
• salt , to taste
• 1 lime, juice of

Toppings

• 160 g rice vermicelli
• 350 g egg noodles
• 1 chicken breast , cooked and shredded (boiled-stock can be used for the broth!)
• ½ cup bean sprouts
• 1 spring onion , chopped
• 1 red chile , sliced
• 4 tablespoons coriander leaves
• 2 tablespoons deep fried shallots
• fresh lime wedge

Directions:

1. Shell prawns/shrimp and reserve prawn/shrimp in one bowl and heads and shells in a separate bowl. Set aside for later use.
2. Using a food process make 'Spice Paste' add shallots, garlic, ginger, chillies, dried prawns and water. Then blend until it forms a smooth paste. Set aside.
3. In a large pot, add vegetable oil and heat. Once the oil is hot add prawns/shrimp shells and fry for about one minute or until they turn red. Remove from pan and discard. This will add prawn/shrimp flavour to the oil.
4. To make the 'Laksa Broth' add 'Spice Paste' to prawn/shrimp flavoured oil and fry for a minute. Add laksa paste and simmer for about two minutes. Pour in the chicken or vegetable stock and bring to boil,.
5. Then add coconut cream, fish balls, fried tofu, sugar, fish sauce, salt and freshly squeezed lime juice. Bring to boil.
6. Half fill a medium pot with water and bring to boil. Add rice vermicelli for a few minutes until they become soft then remove into separate serving bowls.
7. Add egg noodles in boiling water for five minutes or until soft and transfer into the same bowls as rice vermicelli.
8. In the same pot poach reserved prawn/shrimp meat until it's pink then transfer them into the same bowl as the rice vermicelli and egg noodles.
9. Pour 'Laksa Broth' into the serving bowls (same bowls as the prawns/shrimp and noodles).
10. Then top with shredded chicken, bean sprouts, spring onions, chilli, coriander, fried shallots and serve with lime wedge's.
11. Enjoy.

Reviews

[I'mPat]

The DH declared we will make this one again. For allergy reasons I had to sub spring onions (white section) for the shallots in the paste and as I had bought peeled prawns I fried some dried shrimp/prawn in the oil. We did omit the tofu, coriander and fried shallot but added scallops, fish and some baby bok choy. Thank you Chef floWer for a delicious soup with lots of taste. UPDATE - still so good. UPDATE - still a winner, used some fresh vegies from the garden and vermincelli noodles only (friendlier on the blooc sugars) and still thorougly enjoyed (only did enough seafood for 2 but enough broth for 4 and have frozen the other 2 serves of broth for a quick laksa for the DH and Ir.

[Aaliyah's&Aaron's mum]

ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS! For the spice paste, I used an extra red chilli to add a little extra kick! Used fried tofu, skipped out the fish balls and added in a tin of straw mushrooms. For the topping, I used rice noodles, left out the chicken breast and bean sprout and since I'd added in the extra chilli in the paste, I didn't use any for garnish. Oh ya, I was pressed for time to fry the shallots so left that out too. Thank you, Chef floWer, for sharing this wonderful recipe, I definitely will be making it again, hopefully with all the original listed ingredients! :)