Laksa is a popular dish in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. It's a satisfying noodle soup that is a complete meal in a bowl. We couldn't decide whether to try eating it with a spoon or a fork and ended up using a combination of the two ! My main source of inspiration for this dish came from Heather Christo but I tweaked the recipe to use what I had in the cupboards.
I had a rummage through the cupboards and found lots of cooking shortcuts to use up - Knorr Touch of Taste Concentrated Chicken Stock, Ginger &Lemonngrass Flavour Pots and Just Add Chilli. You could, of course, use fresh ingredients though.
Coconut prawn laksa
ingredients :
about 8 king prawns per person
2tbsp coconut oil or vegetable oil
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
2 Ginger & Lemongrass Flavour Pots
1tsp chilli paste
3 tbsp Chinese curry paste
rice vermicelli
1 can coconut milk
a squeeze of lime juice
to taste : salt, dried mint, dried basil, Thai 7 Spice
Melt the coconut oil in a large pan. Toss in the onion, garlic and prawn heads. (You can leave out the prawn heads altogether if it makes you feel squeamish but it adds extra depth of flavour.)
Add the Ginger & Lemongrass Flavour Pots and the chilli paste (or their fresh equivalent).
Add some Thai or Chinese curry paste. I used Wing Yip Curry Sauce Concentrate which has a lovely mild, Oriental flavour. Although Pierre worriedly thought it was dog poo when he saw me add it to the pot !
Keep stirring to make sure it doesn't stick and burn. Remove the shrimp heads. (Use a spoon to wipe off as much of the lovely flavoured paste as possible.)
Add the coconut milk, lime juice and herbs and spices to taste. Simmer for a few minutes, stirring constantly, to thicken. Gaily throw in the prawns and the precooked rice vermicelli (just leave it to stand in boiling water for a couple of minutes then drain).
Spoon the noodles and prawns into bowls then ladle over some of the sauce
This was a lovely warming meal that we really enjoyed. I think I'll have a go at making a chicken version next, to use up the leftovers from the Sunday roast.
If you fancy trying some more Indonesian cuisine, how about Ayem Areh, Gado Gado, Kue Dadar Gulung or Mie Goreng ?
Adding to #KitchenClearout because it used up lots of spices and stock pots that were cluttering up the cupboard.
This looks lovely, very inventive
ReplyDeleteLove your flavourful recipe! Great idea for using the curry paste (I still haven't used mine but also thought of a curry-based soup).
ReplyDeleteI'm going to be doing the same again but with chicken instead of prawns which should work too :)
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