Laksa lemak

Ingredients

• Rice noodles400 g
• Prawns300 g
• Fried tofu puffs150 g
• Coconut milk500 ml
• Prawn or chicken stock800 ml
• Lemongrass3
• Galangal30 g
• Dried chillies8
• Shallots6
• Belacan shrimp paste1 tbsp
• Turmeric2 tsp
• Bean sprouts, cucumber, limeto taste
• Neutral oil80 ml

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

1. 1

   Soak the dried chillies in boiling water for fifteen minutes, then blend them with the shallots, lemongrass, galangal, turmeric and belacan to a smooth paste.

   20 min

2. 2

   Fry the paste in the oil over medium heat for fifteen minutes, stirring. It is ready when the oil starts separating and rising at the edges.

   15 min

3. 3

   Pour in the stock, bring it to the boil and simmer ten minutes. Add the prawns and tofu for three minutes.

   13 min

4. 4

   Add the coconut milk and warm it through without letting it boil hard. Season.

   5 min

5. 5

   Divide the cooked noodles between bowls, ladle the broth over and serve the sprouts, cucumber and lime alongside.

   8 min

About the dish

The rempah — a paste of lemongrass, galangal, chilli, turmeric and shrimp paste — is fried until the oil starts separating at the edges. That moment is called pecah minyak, and before it the flavour stays raw.

The coconut milk goes in at the end and is never boiled hard. At a rolling boil it splits and the broth turns grainy.

Daun kesum, Vietnamese coriander, cannot be swapped for ordinary coriander: its sharp peppery flavour is heard separately in a laksa.

Worth knowing

• — Toast the belacan before use without fail: raw paste gives a harsh smell that stays in the finished broth.
• — Fifteen minutes of frying the paste feels excessive, and it is exactly what turns a set of spices into a base. It cannot be shortened.
• — The finished broth keeps three days and only improves. The noodles and garnishes are prepared at serving time.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories

720 kcal

Protein

32 g

Fat

40 g

Carbs

62 g

More from Malaysia

• Roti canai — A flatbread stretched translucent and crumpled before frying. The layers come from air rather than butter.