Recipe Ingredient
- For the laksa stock:
- Spice paste:
- 175g fresh red chillies
- 15 dried chillies, soaked in hot water
- 4 stalks lemongrass
- 300g shallots
- 200g garlic
- 20g galangal (lengkuas)
- 6 candlenuts (buah keras)
- 30g dried shrimp paste (belacan), roasted
- 200ml cooking oil
- 160g coriander powder
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper powder
- 125g dried prawns, soaked for 10 minutes and finely pounded
- 250g prawns, minced finely
- 500g crab meat (best to use fresh crab meat)
- 10 pieces tamarind peel (asam keping)
- 2 litres coconut milk (from 2 coconuts)
- 1-2 tablespoons sugar, or to taste
- 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
- 500g fresh laksa noodles, blanched in hot water and drained
- 6 tablespoons prawn paste, dilute with 5 tablespoons warm water
- 200g crab meat
- 1/2 cucumber, cored and cut into thin strips
- 1/2 pineapple, cored and cut into thin strips
- 3 boiled eggs, cut into wedges
- 2 onions, thinly sliced
- 10 pickled shallots (lo giou), thinly sliced
- 1 ginger flower (bunga kantan), finely sliced
- 1 bunch mint leaves
- 2 red chillies, thinly sliced
- 5 calamansi (kasturi) limes, halved
Instructions
- Pound or blend the spice paste ingredients to a smooth paste, adding just enough water to work the blades.
- Heat the oil in an earthenware pot and fry the spice paste, coriander powder and pepper until the oil separates from the paste, about 8 minutes.
- Add the dried prawns and continue frying for about 3 minutes. Add the minced prawns, crab meat, tamarind peel and coconut milk. Cook over a medium to low flame to avoid curdling the coconut milk. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for at least 15 minutes.
- Season to taste with sugar and salt. If you prefer the taste to be more sour, mix 20g tamarind paste (asam jawa) with 50ml water and add to the laksa stock. If the gravy is too thick, add in a cup of warm water (optional).
- To assemble, put some noodles in a bowl. Ladle the hot laksa stock over and drizzle some prawn paste on it. Top with all the garnish ingredients, as desired. Squeeze the calamansi lime juice over the laksa, if using. Add some cut bird´s eye chillies if you like it extra hot.
- Note: This is an ultra-rich laksa served in Theresa´s family home. The stock is made from crab and prawn meat instead of fish.
To make the laksa stock:
