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Laksa a Taste of Malaysia

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Let me tempt you with a bowl of luscious laksa

It's delicious, it's addictive, it's rich, slightly sweet and strongly spiced. It's laksa!

Even the name is delightful. It rolls off your tongue and tempts your tastebuds. Try it.

So what exactly is laksa? It's a coconutty broth with lemongrass and galangal and diced Vietnamese mint piled with tofu and poached seafood and chilli and sambal - and, and, anything else you want to put into it. .... all combined with fat egg noodles and skinny rice vermicelli.

Said to be the creation of long-ago Chinese migrants to Malaysia, this mouthwatering meal in a bowl traveled down from Malaysia, through Indonesia, to end up as one of Australia's favourite dishes. Take one spoonful, and you will immediately understand why.

Malaysian Fast Food
Laksa in Four Simple Steps
Printable Laksa Recipe
Laksa, Australian style
Want to make your own Laksa Paste?
How to make your own Laksa Paste
Laksa Penang
Prawn versus Shrimp
More Ideas from Indonesia and Malaysia
Singaporean, Malaysian & Indonesian Cuisine
Let's Look at your Laksa Lore
Leave a comment for the Cook

Malaysian Fast Food

Let's make some!

Laksa means "ten thousand," and there are ten thousand ways to make it. I'm sure I've tasted a few thousand variations on the basic laksa from the myriad of soup vendors throughout Malaysia

So many ingredients you can add, so many spices, so many condiments, it's an individual choice.

Come on into the world of Laksa with me. Lay out the ingredients on your bench and we'll take it one step at a time.

1. Prepare the seafood. Set aside

2. Place rice noodles in a bowl, cover with boiling water, soak for 10 minutes. Drain and rinse

Laksa in Four Simple Steps

No matter what style of Laksa you want to make, the four steps are the same - lay out the ingredients, prepare the noodles, make the paste, add ingredients. This one is with seafood. If could easily be with chicken.

Prepare the seafood. Peel and devein the prawns. Set aside.

Place rice noodles in a bowl and cover with boiling water, leave to soak for 10 minutes. Then drain the noodles in a colander, rinse them in cold water and set aside.

Add oil to a pan and, when warm, add the laksa paste and cook over a medium heat for 2 minutes. Add coconut milk and stir, then leave to simmer gently for 10 minutes.

When the coconut milk mixture is ready, add the noodles, any ingredients such as cucumber, beansprouts etc and juice of one lime. Add salt to taste, bring back to a simmer, add the prawns and cook for 3-5 minutes until the prawns have turned pink.

Ladle the laksa into deep bowls for serving. Add some shredded mint and basil leaves.

Warm up oil in a pan, add paste

Cook over a medium heat 2 mins.

Stir in coconut milk, simmer 10 mins

Printable Laksa Recipe

Serves: 4
Total Time: 30 mins

Ingredients

250g rice vermicelli
20ml (1 tbs) peanut oil
1/4 cup good-quality laksa paste
750ml (3 cups) fish or vegetable stock
400ml coconut milk
750g green prawns de-veined shelled tails on
250g scallops
100g deep-fried tofu quartered
100g bean sprouts trimmed
1/2 cup each fresh coriander Vietnamese mint and Thai basil leaves plus extra to serve
1 small red chilli
seeds removed cut into thin strips
500g chopped peanuts to serve
Fried Asian shallots to garnish

Instructions

Method

1. Place the vermicelli in a bowl, cover with boiling water and leave for 10 minutes to soak. Drain and set aside.

2. Place oil in a wok over medium-high heat. Add the laksa paste and stir-fry for 1 minute. Stir in the stock, bring to the boil, then add the coconut milk and simmer for 2 minutes. Add the green prawns, scallops and deep-fried tofu and cook for 2 minutes before adding 1 teaspoon of salt.

3. Divide the noodles between serving bowls, top with the bean sprouts and the fresh herbs. Pour the laksa soup over the noodles, dividing the seafood equally among the bowls. Garnish with slices of chilli, peanuts, shallots and the extra fresh herbs.

Notes & tips

* * Ingredients should be available from Asian supermarkets. If the Vietnamese mint and Thai basil are unavailable, substitute with extra fresh coriander.

Printable Version

Laksa, Australian style

This laksa is made in ten minutes with a jar of laksa paste - and a few more spices thrown in. Sensational! From Food Safari, hosted by Maeve O'Meara. Runtime 3.11

Want to make your own Laksa Paste?

You can get very nice laksa paste in jars. Any supermarket in Australia stocks it and plenty of small corner shops do too but, if you want to make your own, it's not difficult at all.

The problem is having all the ingredients at the one time. I rarely do.

How to make your own Laksa Paste

If you really must!

* 1 Red Onion
* Pinch of Sea Salt
* 2 tablespoons Ginger (Chopped)
* 4 Cloves
* 1 teaspoon Turmeric (Chopped)
* 1 Stalk Of Lemongrass (Bottom 1/3 Only - Chopped)
* 10 Dried Chilis
* 6 Candle Nuts (Or Macadamia)
* ½ teaspoon Shrimp Paste
* 1 bunch Coriander Root (And Stems)

* 10 Vietnamese Mint Leaves
* 1 teaspoon Coriander Seed
* 1 teaspoon Fennel Seed
* 4 Cardamom Pods
* 1 teaspoon Cumin Seed
* 4 Cloves Garlic
* ½ teaspoon Cinnamon

Method

1. Blend all ingredients in a blender, place in a suitable container, cover with a little oil. You can refrigerate laksa paste for up to a month.

Laksa Penang

Prawn versus Shrimp

What's the difference between prawns and shrimp? Solely a linguistic one.

In Britain the term "shrimp" is the more general of the two, and is the only term used for Crangonidae and most smaller species. "Prawn" is the more special of the two names, being used solely for Palaemondiae and larger forms, never for the very small ones.

In North America the name "prawn" is almost entirely replaced by the word "shrimp" and used for even the largest species, which may be called "jumbo shrimp".

In Australia we eat 'prawns'- we boil them, steam them, poach them or throw them on the BBQ - and those 'shrimp' things are very tiny creatures usually found in a can, or made up into a paste.

Shrimp Paste
The tiny shrimp fished in southeast Asia are made into blacang, a fermented shrimp paste used as seasoning.

More Ideas from Indonesia and Malaysia

Singaporean, Malaysian & Indonesian Cuisine

With 68 recipes divided into Singaporean, Malaysian and Indonesian recipe sections.

A one-page spread picture accompanies each recipe, very helpful for anyone not familiar with some of the ingredients, or with the final outcome.

Singaporean, Malaysian & Indonesian Cuisine

by: Christina Sjahir Hwang, Wei-Chuan Publishing

Amazon Price: $39.95 (as of 02/13/2012)

A glossary of ingredients, seasonings, spices and herbs is followed by recipes for stocks, condiments, pickled salads, sambal chilli sauces and assorted spice pastes. These spice pastes (used in many of the recipes) are what gives this cuisine its fragrant, rich and savoury flavours.

A 'must have' for those who want a taste of Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia .. with easy instructions for any level of cook

Let's Look at your Laksa Lore

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