Name: Curry Laksa
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 55 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Malaysian
Ingredients: 8 dried red chillies, soaked; 6 shallots; 5 garlic cloves; 4 cm galangal; 3 cm fresh turmeric, or 2 tsp ground; 3 lemongrass stalks, sliced; 6 candlenuts or macadamias; 1 tbsp dried shrimp, soaked; 1 tsp belacan (shrimp paste), toasted; 2 tbsp ground coriander; 1 ¼ litres chicken or prawn stock; 800 ml coconut milk; 400 g raw prawns, shells reserved for the stock; 200 g tofu puffs, halved; 4 tbsp neutral oil; 2 tbsp palm sugar; 2 tbsp fish sauce; 2 tsp fine sea salt; 300 g fresh rice vermicelli; 300 g fresh yellow egg noodles; 200 g beansprouts, blanched; Laksa leaf (Vietnamese mint) or coriander; Sambal, lime wedges and hard-boiled eggs

Curry Laksa

Curry laksa: a coconut and spice paste soup with two kinds of noodle, prawns, tofu puffs and cockles, finished with sambal and lime. Malaysia's most argued-over dish, and there is no single correct version.

55 min total Serves 4 servings Medium

The rempah — the pounded spice paste — is fried until its oil separates and floats, which is both the flavour foundation and the source of the orange slick on the broth's surface. Tofu puffs are used rather than plain tofu because their honeycomb interiors soak up broth like sponges.

The Method for Curry Laksa

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Blend or pound the rempah ingredients to a completely smooth paste.
Heat the oil in a large pot and fry the rempah over medium heat for 12 to 15 minutes, stirring constantly, until it darkens deeply and the oil pools and separates.
Add the stock and bring to a simmer, scraping the base.
Add the palm sugar, fish sauce and salt and simmer 20 minutes.
Pour in the coconut milk and bring to a bare simmer — do not boil, or it will split.
Add the tofu puffs and simmer 8 minutes so they soak up the broth.
Add the prawns and cook 2 minutes until just pink.
Taste and balance: laksa should be rich, salty, faintly sweet and unmistakably spiced.
Blanch both noodles and the beansprouts and divide between deep bowls.
Ladle the broth and prawns over, top with laksa leaf, half an egg and a spoonful of sambal, and serve with lime.

Related guide: Choosing rice.

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Tips That Matter

Fry the rempah longer than feels necessary. Fifteen minutes is not too long and it is where all the flavour lives.
Never boil the coconut milk. A split laksa looks and tastes wrong.
Both noodles together is traditional — the springy egg noodle and the soft vermicelli give different mouthfuls.

Ingredient Swaps

If coconut is a problem, a cooking cream (dairy or plant-based) can stand in for the coconut milk in a sauce; the dish will lose the coconut flavour and taste noticeably different.
Dried chilli flakes can stand in for the red chillies. Heat varies a great deal between chillies and between jars, so start with a small pinch and add more to taste.
Lemon is the everyday swap for lime in this kind of dish — the acidity plays the same role even though the flavour is not identical.

Pairs Well With

Extra sambal and lime · A cold beer or iced calamansi · Kaya toast, if you are making it a full meal

Storage

The broth keeps 3 days refrigerated and freezes 2 months. Cook noodles and prawns fresh each time.

What's in a Serving

No nutrition figures are given for this recipe: they cannot be worked out reliably from its ingredient list (some ingredient lines cannot be read). Why some recipes have none.

Dairy-Free