The beauty of laksa is that the teenage boy asks for it and happily eats any compatible vegetable I can add in: broccoli, carrot, bok choy, you name it. If it’s in laksa, he’ll eat it.
The laksa itself is easy to make: coconut cream, some coconut milk or evaporated milk, some veggies and other bits and, of course, laksa paste.
It’s taken a year or so, but we’ve finally managed to come up with our perfect laksa paste. By perfect, we mean it had to meet the taste standard set by various restaurants around town. I couldn’t tell you how authentic it is (I would be interested to hear from the Fiesta Friday crowd), but it meets the requirements of this family.
Is it worth showing a jar of paste? Well, it’s not really very beautiful looking, but I guess I should show off the result to prove I really did it.
Laksa
Ingredients
For the paste
- 1 stalk of lemon grass
- 1 small onion
- 2 centimeters of ginger (galangal would be better, but it;s hard to find)
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 4 chillies
- 1 tablespoon of coriander stalks
- ½ to 1 teaspoon of turmeric
- ½ teaspoon of ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon of paprika
- a little oil (we use olive oil for various food tolerance reasons)
- ½ tablespoon of shrimp paste
For the soup
- 1 tin of coconut cream (we use the Ayam cream because all it has in it is coconut)
- some milk: coconut milk, evaporated milk, or even full cream dairy milk if that’s all we have
- vegetables: broccoli, carrot and bok choy are favourites
- bean sprouts (an essential ingredient in our house)
- coriander (and lots of it when it’s about to bolt in the veggie garden)
- noodles
Directions
Make the paste
- Roughly chop some of the larger stalks into a size your blender can handle.
- Pop everything together in the blender and blend it into a fine paste, adding a little oil only if you need to.
- Store the result in a jar in the fridge and use as required.
Assemble the soup
- Chop all your veggies.
- Read the instructions on the noodle packet and follow them so your noodles are ready by the time the soup is done.
- In a large saucepan or wok, stir a good dollop of laksa paste with the entire tin of coconut milk. Stir this around to mix it, then add the veggies. Don’t add the leaves of bok choy just yet. You don’t want to overcook them.
- Add enough of the other milk for the veggies to cook in. Simmer very slowly until the carrot is just tender. Stir in the leaves of the bok choy and simmer for just long enough to cook it through.
- Assemble the laksa: Put the noodles in the bottom, pour over the soup and veggies, top with bean sprouts and coriander.
- Enjoy as your boy happily eats his veggies.
Notes
Source: Mostly the Kitchen Sanctuary, with a few ideas from the SBS website.
I have everything for Laksa at home, including Galanga. Will try this over the weekend. I am a vegetarian, so I guess I will replace shrimp paste with a bit of soy.
LikeLike
It’s so good that you can do that. The vegan option I saw just left the shrimp paste out, and you could do the same. The issue here was that the family didn’t think it tasted right (compared with the high standard set by local restaurants).
LikeLiked by 1 person
So tasty tasting! I’ve never made laksa, but your paste sounds similar to a sort of generic paste I used to make for some soups and curries (I used to add a little bit of fish sauce, too – I don’t know if you’ve used thar before.) I will have to try this! It feels like ages since I’ve cooked with these flavours, but they’ll be perfect for a cold, dark evening. Thanks for sharing!
LikeLike
Tasty sounding, I meant, although I’m sure it is tasty tasting too!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Tasty tasting … I like that!
LikeLike
Homemade laska paste? Yessss. You’re speaking my language!! I can’t wait to try this! Thanks so much for sharing it at Fiesta Friday! 🙂
LikeLike
Thanks for stopping by. It’s well worth the effort to make these things – I’m always surprised at how easy it is. Happy FF.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Pingback: Courtesan au Chocolat | Fiesta Friday #42 | The Novice Gardener
I really will make the laksa. I just dug up a lemon grass plant and saved it from the frost that came last night with the snow, but don’t know how long it will last indoors. I also have some galanga, so I am all set. And then I hope to make the soup.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love laksa too.. though I tweak the original to my taste and liking. Your laksa curry looks bang on – perfect!
LikeLike
Thank you.I’m not sure what the ‘original’ would be for us because there are so many different tastes just around this town. What was your ‘original’?
LikeLike
I love this recipe…I’m sharing this on my Facebook group @ https://m.facebook.com/groups/1433687623575418?ref=bookmark
With nearly 7000 members…I’m sure you will get some more visitors!
Come join us and share your vegetarian dishes, baked treats and recipe blog links!
See you there!..D 🙂
LikeLike
I am sorry – the spam filter took your comment before I saw it. Thanks for the invitation. I might just take you up on that!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love laksa and your paste sounds ideal! I will try it, perhaps with crab… am already getting carried away! thanks for sharing your recipe! 🙂
LikeLike
Oh yum. With crab! I’ll be happy to hear how that goes.
LikeLiked by 1 person
will do! 🙂
LikeLike