Laksa Noodle Soup
The flavors of laksa always bring me back to Malaysia and Singapore. The combination of rich flavors comprised of robust seafood and creamy coconut, combined with the unique blend of spices is a childhood memory I always savor.
Growing up, my mom used to drive us down to San Gabriel for a bowl of delicious laksa. I can’t remember the name of the restaurant but I definitely remember it was a hole-in-the-wall spot, and we’d always be begging to order a Cendol.
I only recently started exploring more traditional Malaysian recipes and this was my first go at laksa. I hopped over to Chinatown to pick up most of the ingredients - galanga, fresh fish balls and fish tofu, shrimp head-on, and tofu puffs. All readily available. I have to say that I was expecting the process to be far more complex, but it’s actually just comprised of three parts - broth, rempah paste and toppings. And if you spread your time out perfecting each one of these components, which is what I’ll be doing over time, you’ll get there.
The recipe is hefty and there’s a far faster way of putting this dish together - substituting homemade broth for chicken broth, or substituting rempah paste for store-bought Laksa paste. That will get you laksa in 30 minutes as opposed to the full 1.5 - 2 hour process.
Whatever you decide, I encourage either process. Enjoy!
Laksa Noodle Soup
Serves 3-4 | Approximately: 1.5 Hours
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INGREDIENTS
40g dried shrimp, soaked for 20 minutes
Salt, to taste
1 tbsp sugar
200g rice noodles, vermicelli, or similar
2 13oz cans of coconut milk
For Seafood Broth (substitute with 3L chicken broth):
500g prawn heads
2 tbsp neutral oil
3L water
For Rempah Paste (substitute HERE):
300g shallots
5 cloves of garlic
4 red chilli, seeds removed and sliced
15 dried chili, rehydrated in water
4 lemongrass (white stem only)
4 pieces fresh turmeric
80g galanga (blue ginger)
30g candlenut, substitute: pine nuts, cashews
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp cumin
Topping Options (All available at Asian supermarkets):
Fish balls
Fish tofu
Tofu puffs
Shrimp, poached
Hard-boiled egg
Bean Sprouts
Cilantro
METHOD
Prepare broth. In a medium - large stock pot, bring water to boil.
Then, In a large (preferably non-stick) skillet, heat oil on medium-high. Add prawn heads and fry until fragrant, cook until completely dry. Add a few ladles of the already boiling water to the prawns. Then, using the back of a spatula or a masher, gently apply pressure to extract more flavor. Transfer prawns to the stock pot. Drop heat to low and let it simmer for 1 hour.
While broth is cooking, remove dried shrimp from soaking liquid - make sure to set aside the flavorful liquid to add to the stock later. Place dried shrimp into a food processor and blend into a fine consistency.
Prepare the rempah paste. In a clean food processor, add shallots and garlic, and blend for a minute, then add fresh and dried, along with lemongrass, turmeric, galangal, pine nuts. Lastly, add fish sauce and cumin. Blend into a paste. Slowly add about 1/4 cup of water until it is a paste.
Then in a large sauce pan, add 1/2 cup of neutral oil. Add rempah paste and fry on medium-low heat for about 20-30 minutes, consistently stirring. Then, add dried shrimp, sugar, and salt, to taste. Fry for another 5-10 minutes. Remove from heat.
Remove prawn heads from stock and toss. Then, stir in rempah paste, the excess water from dried shrimp and coconut milk. Drop heat to low and let it simmer - do not let it boil. Add puffed tofu and optional toppings such as fish balls, fish tofu, shrimp to the stock.
Cook noodles according to package instructions. Serve noodles in a medium bowl, add homemade broth, any topping options, hard boiled egg, bean sprouts, cilantro.