Malaysian · Main
Laksa
KL-style curry laksa — a coconut broth built on a fried rempah, loaded with prawns, tofu puffs that drink the soup, and two kinds of noodles
- Prep
- 35 min
- Cook
- 40 min
- Serves
- 4
Ingredients
- raw prawns, shell-on — 500 g
- dried red chillies, soaked — 10
- fresh red chillies — 20 g
- shallots — 100 g
- garlic — 25 g
- galangal — 20 g
- fresh turmeric — 15 g
- lemongrass — 30 g
- candlenuts or macadamias — 30 g
- belacan, toasted — 10 g
- dried shrimp, soaked — 20 g
- coconut milk — 500 ml
- chicken stock (from prawn shells + stock) — 900 ml
- fish sauce — 25 ml
- palm sugar — 15 g
- tofu puffs, halved — 100 g
- hokkien noodles + rice vermicelli, cooked — 500 g
- bean sprouts — 100 g
- eggs, 7-min boiled, halved — 2
- laksa leaf (Vietnamese mint) or coriander — 15 g
- vegetable oil — 60 ml
Method
- Peel prawns; fry shells and heads in 15 ml oil 4 min, add stock, simmer 15 min, strain.
- Blend chillies, shallots, garlic, galangal, turmeric, lemongrass, candlenuts, belacan and dried shrimp to a rempah.
- Fry the rempah in remaining oil over medium heat 10–12 min until deeply fragrant and split.
- Add prawn stock; simmer 10 min. Add coconut milk, fish sauce and palm sugar; keep at a gentle simmer — never a hard boil.
- Add tofu puffs; 5 min, so they soak.
- Poach the prawns in the broth 2–3 min.
- Bowl the mixed noodles and sprouts; ladle broth, prawns and puffs over; crown with egg halves and laksa leaf.