Laksa Lemak
Prawns cooked with tofu, beansprouts, and fish cake in coconut milk with a special homemade spice paste and served with noodles
Equipment
- Wok (stovetop)
Ingredients
For the spice paste:
- 2 tbsp macadamia unsalted, roasted
- ½ cup shallot chopped
- 2 dried red chili deseeded
- 2 Thai chili
- 2 tbsp dried shrimp
- 1 tbsp galangal peeled, chopped
- 3 lemongrass white part only
- ½ tsp fresh turmeric peeled, chopped
- 1 tbsp peanut oil
- 2 tsp salt
For the laksa lemak:
- ½ lb jumbo shrimp de-veined, tail on
- ½ pack fish cake thinly sliced
- 12 fried puffy tofu
- 3 cups coconut milk from 1 coconut
- 2 cup filtered water
- 1½ tbsp peanut oil
- 1 pack beansprouts
- a few chives chopped
- 1 pack round yellow or white noodles follow instructions for cooking
- 4 boiled eggs optional
Instructions
How to make the spice paste:
- Grind all the ingredients for the spice paste in a food processor with a little water to make a fine paste.
How to make the laksa lemak:
- Heat a wok and add the peanut oil. Add the spice paste and sauté until slightly brown and fragrant for 3 minutes. Keep scraping the bottom of the wok.
- Add the cleaned shrimp and sauté with the paste for 3 minutes.
- Toss in the fish cake and fried puffy tofu and sauté for 2 minutes.
- Add the water and cook for 3 minutes.
- Prepare fresh coconut milk by pulsing grated coconut with water.
- Strain the coconut milk by squeezing out the pulp. Discard the residue and use the milk for the laksa.
- Add the coconut milk and simmer for a minute.
- Add the bean sprouts, turn off the heat.
- Garnish with chives and/or boiled eggs. Optionally, you use scallion, kaffir lime leaves for garnish.
- Follow instructions on cooking thick noodles (white or yellow). Drain the (al dente) noodles and serve the laksa lemak with some noodles in a noodle bowl.
Notes
Notes:
- Optional ingredients to add are cockles and mussels. Cooked quail eggs are also used.
- The authentic flavor of the laksa is from the spice paste. This recipe is balanced and proportional. Adjust the quantity based on the amount of noodle soup you are making. Store-bought laksa paste has never tasted as good as the from-scratch homemade paste.
- Garnish with kaffir lime leaves if you can find them.
Nutrition
Calories: 521kcalCarbohydrates: 17gProtein: 27gFat: 46gSaturated Fat: 34gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 327mgSodium: 1845mgPotassium: 824mgFiber: 3gSugar: 6gVitamin A: 414IUVitamin C: 19mgCalcium: 155mgIron: 9mg
