Curry laksa recipe
Laksa is one of the most popular hawker-stall meals as it is labour-intensive, though completely possible, to make at home. If you can, start this recipe a day before you want to eat it to give the fried-off laksa paste a chance to fully mature overnight
It is a classic example of Nyonya cooking and comes in two main variants: the sour assam laksa from Penang and the coconut milk-based curry laksa/laksa lemak/curry mee from Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak and Singapore. The flavour of laksa and other Malaysian recipes is determined by the rempah which, in Malay, means spice paste. The rempah can be as simple as blitzing up onions, ginger and garlic. Or, at the other end of the scale, the number of ingredients for a rempah can run to 20 or more!
This laksa, with a strong chilli and shrimp kick, is based on a campur- or kahwin-style laksa found in Malacca – a cross between Kuala Lumpur’s curry laksa and Penang’s fiery assam laksa. The soup has a powerful shrimp base.
The vast majority of the preparation can be done a day or two in advance, like cooking the chicken stock, blitzing and cooking the spice paste, prawns (shrimp) and eggs, and blanching the beansprouts and green beans. The noodles are best blanched just before serving.
If you can find them, laksa leaves (ask for rau ram or hot mint in Vietnamese supermarkets) add a distinctive fragrance to the dish. Like any good curry, the broth develops in flavour if left overnight.
Ingredients
For the spice paste- 150 ml oil
- 300 g onion, roughly chopped
- 1 x 8cm (3in) ginger, roughly chopped
- 8 garlic cloves
- 3 red chillies, roughly chopped
- 15 dried chillies, soaked in hot water for 30 minutes before using and then drained
- 1.5 tbsp ground cumin
- 1.5 tbsp ground turmeric
- 3 tbsp ground coriander (cilantro)
- 2 tbsp chilli powder
- 25 g (1 tbsp) shrimp paste
- 1.7 l chicken stock (bouillon)
- 800 ml coconut milk
- 70 g good-quality caramelised palm sugar or dark brown sugar
- 2 tbsp salt (or less), to taste
- 3 tbsp tamarind paste
- 50 g bunch of laksa leaves, or mint or coriander (cilantro) as a substitute
- 2 lemongrass stalks, cut in half then pounded lightly with a pestle to bruise
- 6 eggs
- 12 deep-fried tofu puffs, cut into half
- 120 g green beans, cut into 5cm (2in) lengths
- 200 g beansprouts
- 24 king prawns (jumbo shrimp), deshelled and deveined
- 600 g fresh egg noodles
- 1 handful laksa leaves, or mint or coriander (cilantro) leaves, finely sliced, to garnish
Details
- Cuisine: Malaysian
- Recipe Type: Noodles
- Difficulty: Medium
- Preparation Time: 20 mins
- Cooking Time: 40 mins
- Serves: 6
Step-by-step
For the spice paste
- Blend all of the spice paste ingredients into the consistency of a fine purée.
- In a large non-stick frying pan over a medium–low heat, cook the spice paste, continuously stirring for 20 minutes, until it is a rich, dark red-brown colour and the oil separates from the paste. Ideally leave for at least 24 hours in the fridge for the fried paste to develop maximum flavour before using it to make the broth.
To make the laksa broth
- Add the laksa broth ingredients to a large saucepan along with the fried spice paste. Bring to the boil, then simmer gently on the lowest heat for 20 minutes.
- Turn off the heat, then remove the laksa leaves/mint/coriander and lemongrass, and adjust the seasoning (the salt and sugar), to taste.
- Add the tofu puffs to the broth for 10 minutes so that they soak up the flavour.
To assemble
- For the soft-boiled egg, use medium-sized eggs at room temperature. Start by bringing 8cm (3in) of water up to boil in a saucepan. Lower the eggs into the water with a slotted spoon and turn down the heat so it is at a rolling boil. Set a timer for 6½ minutes for soft-boiled or 7½ minutes for hard-boiled. Once the time is up, immediately take the eggs out, put in a deep bowl of cold water and leave them for 2 minutes to stop the cooking. It is easiest to peel the eggs in water as the water helps to get between the egg’s membrane and the shell. Slice in half for prettiness.
- Fill another saucepan with water and bring to the boil. While the laksa broth is simmering, blanch the following in boiling water one after the other: beansprouts for 10 seconds, green beans for 3 minutes and prawns for 90 seconds. Refresh the beansprouts and beans in cold water immediately after taking out of the boiling water (to stop them cooking in the residual heat), then drain. Remember to allow the water to come back up to the boil before starting to blanch a new ingredient.
- Finally, blanch the egg noodles for 10 seconds and drain well before distributing among the bowls.
- Portion everything out into the bowls ready for serving – the beansprouts, green beans and prawns. Pour the hot laksa broth into each of the bowls with 4 halved tofu puffs per serving. Place the boiled egg halves on top and finish with sliced laksa leaves, mint or coriander.
This recipe is from Sambal Shiok: The Malaysian Cookbook by Mandy Yin (Quadrille, £25). Photography © Louise Hagger.
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