After a stressful and hectic work week, I was craving something tasty, but with a little bit of a difference, to make for our tea. Jason had gone home early from the high school he teaches at with the flu and had a sore throat. What a coincidence it was to discover the latest edition of Dish magazine in my email box with the perfect recipe for Laksa in it! Like Jewish Chicken soup but Thai and made with seafood! I’ve never made a laksa from scratch but the recipe was easy to follow and quick to make.
First assemble your ingredients for the laksa paste.
Laksa paste ingredients.
1 small red chilli, de seeded
1 stalk of lemongrass, centre only
6 coriander stalks
4 cloves garlic , chopped
2.5cm piece ginger, peeled and chopped
1 1/2 tablespoons shrimp paste
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
2 tablespoons rice bran or peanut oil
To make the paste, put all ingredients bar the oil in a small food processor, blend whilst adding oil. You could also pound the ingredients in a mortar and pestle if you feel like working out that stress 😉. I just put everything, including the oil in my little processor and whizzed away. It turned out just fine.
Now you can assemble all your other ingredients for the soup.
4-6 button mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon peanut or rice bran oil
1 1/2 cups of fish stock
2 kaffir lime leaves , thinly sliced
400ml coconut milk
2 teaspoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
Pepper and salt
115gm rice noodles
12 large raw prawns, peeled
100gm firm fleshed fish, cut into bite sized pieces
1/2 cup bean sprouts
Fresh coriander sprigs to garnish
In a medium saucepan over a low heat, gently cook the sliced mushrooms in the oil for one minute. Add the fresh laksa paste and cook for another minute or until it smells fragrant.
Add stock, kaffir lime leaves, coconut milk, fish sauce, lime juice and ginger. Gently simmer for 7-10 minutes , then taste and season if needed with sea salt and black pepper.
While the soup is cooking, soak the rice noodles in hot water as per packet instructions. I soaked the vermicelli rice noodles I used for no more than five minutes. Drain thoroughly.
Add prawns and fish pieces to soup and cook till the fish is opaque. Drop in the sprouts and remove from heat.
Divide the noodles between serving bowls. Ladle the soup over noodles and garnish with coriander.
This was such a satisfying dish to make and eat. I’m sure you will all enjoy it as much as we did.
Bon appetit!
cathyandchucky 