Laksa is a spicy soup with coconut milk and noodles which originated from South East Asia, particularly Malaysia and Singapore. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laksa Some regions in Indonesia also have some dishes which are called “laksa”, but some of them are served with rice cake instead of noodles.
Penang laksa, which is called, asam laksa, is another variation of laksa dish from Penang Island, Malaysia. Penang laksa does not use coconut milk or cream. The other distinctive feature in Penang laksa is the sour taste of the soup. http://www.4hoteliers.com/4hots_fshw.php?mwi=730
Although there are many variations of laksa, the term laksa is usually refers to the laksa served in Singapore and Malaysia which are cooked with coconut milk and coconut cream.
You can learn how to cook laksa at home from scratch with this step by step guide. Before you start, ensure you can find the ingredients listed below.
Laksa uses many herbs and seasonings that are local to South East Asia, such as candlenut, shallots, lemongrass, turmeric, lime, and spring onion. There is no good substitute for these ingredients, so if you can’t find these ingredients, you better use bottled laksa paste and skip to the cooking laksa stage of this guide. Some laksa uses belacan or shrimp paste, but you can omit it if the smell is too strong for you.
Laksa is usually spicy. Adjust the amount of chili you use to your taste. You can also serve the laksa with some chili paste so your guest can add the chili according to their taste.
Malaysian Seafood Laksa Recipe
This is video of how to cook laksa by Maeve O’Meara in Food Safari TV series. According to the host, laksa is a dish that many Australians like. You can make laksa in 10 minutes at home, especially if you have laksa paste. For additional flavor, mix shallots, garlic, chili, dried prawn, and ginger in a blender. Add a little bit of water and blend.
Peel the prawn and fry the shells a bit with some oil in a pot. Discard the skin. Add the blended seasoning to the oil used to frying the prawn skin. Add some laksa paste to the pot. Add water and let it simmer for 10 minutes. Add fish sauce and coconut cream. Add some fish balls and fried tofu. Squeeze a bit of lime.
Boil the noodles in separate pot and blanch the prawn. Pour the laksa soup into the bowl with noodles and garnish with prawn, boiled chicken, coriander, spring onions, fried shallots, and a lime wedge.
Ingredients
- 1 lb/ 500g or 4 servings of rice noodles
- 1 cup of bean sprouts
- 1/2 lb/ 250 g prawns
- 1/4 lb/ 125 g fish balls or fish cakes
- 4 deep fried beancurd (tofu pok)
- 1 cup of coconut cream
- 2 cups of coconut milk
- 1 chicken breast
- 1 spring onion
- 1 tbsp kaffir lime or lime juice
- 1 tbsp dried prawn
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 5 shallots
- cilantro, for garnish
For the paste:
Preparation
- Soak the dried prawn for around 20 minutes and drain.
- Blanch the rice noodles and the bean sprouts.
- Cut the tofu pok in half to make triangle shapes.
- Boil the chicken breast and shred the meat.
- Deshell the prawns and blanch.
- Cut the spring onions to small rounds. Cut the lime into 4 wedges.
- Make the fried shallots: slice the shallots thinly and deep fried until brown and crisp.
- Prepare the laksa paste: add all the ingredients in a blender and add a little water. Blend the ingredients for few minutes until it resembles a coarse paste.
Laksa Cooking Instructions
- Fry the dried prawn in few tbsp of oil. Add the paste and stir fry until fragrant.
- Add the coconut milk and bring to boil, stirring constantly.
- Add the fish balls, tofu pok, fish sauce, lime juice, salt and pepper. Cook for 2 minutes until the ingredients float to the surface.
- Add the coconut cream and bring to boil, stirring constantly.
- To serve: Divide the noodles, bean sprouts, and prawns into 4 bowls.
- Ladle the laksa soup into the bowls. Each bowl should have same amount of fish balls and tofu.
- Garnish with cilantro leaves, spring onions, fried shallots, shredded chicken, and a wedge of lime. Serve hot.
