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Nothing is more comforting than a bowl of spicy laksa with rich creamy broth full of umami flavours, aromatic herbs, thick rice noodles, taupok (tofu puffs), prawns and sambal chilli. It’s the first dish that I’ll eat when I return home from overseas, and also the first choice that comes to mind when in any hawker centres. I used to think that making a dish with such complex flavours will involve complicated process. Not until I started making laksa paste and laksa myself, it’s not only easy and simple, it also tastes much better homemade. Definitely one that is big on flavour but short on complexity!
Is laksa a type of curry?
If the definition of curry means a spicy dish of Asian, especially Indian, origin that is made in many ways but usually consists of meat or fish prepared in a hot piquant sauce, then yes, except there are many forms of laksa served with either chicken, prawn or fish, and noodles.
How many types of laksa are there?
A popular dish in Southeast Asia, laksa generally comes in several main types in Malaysia. In Singapore, it’s common to find two main types, ie Nonya laksa or curry laksa as we commonly called it, a spicy creamy curry broth made from coconut milk and laksa paste served with rice noodles, tofu puffs, bean sprouts, chicken or prawns, sometimes with cockles. And Penang laksa, or assam laksa which is a clearer broth seasoned with a sour fishy paste made of asam (also known as tamarind or gelugur), ginger torch, and mackerel fish, served with rice noodles, pineapple, cucumber, mint, and chilli. This recipe is for the curry laksa and in Singapore it’s also served with hard boiled eggs, fish cakes and cockles.
What is the paste made of?
Laksa paste is a blend of aromatic spices and herbs. Traditionally, the paste is made by grinding it in a mortar and pestle but that requires a lot of muscle strength and patience. I used the food processor to blend all the ingredients instead.
- 15 dried chillies, soak to hydrate
- 2 red chillies
- 1/2 cup dried shrimp, soaked, toasted, and then grind as fine as possible
- 5 cloves garlic
- 5 shallots
- 1 inch blue ginger (galangal)
- 1 tsp grated turmeric or powder
- 4 candle nuts or substitute with macadamia nuts
- 2 stalk lemongrass
- 4-5 kaffir lime leaves
I soaked the dried red chilies in boiling water for about 15-20 minutes. If you cannot take too spicy, you can reduce the number of chillies, and also remove the seeds from the dried and fresh chillies.
For the dried shimp, I soaked it in normal temperature water, pat dry it, toasted it over medium heat to release the aroma, before grinding to make it as fine as possible before adding all the rest of the wet ingredients. I have tried making the paste without the dried shrimp but it lacks that authentic umami flavour, so I’d highly recommending adding this.
I also chopped up all the ingredients into fine pieces, as small as possible, so it’s easier to blend them altogether later. Save up some of the water that was used to soak the dried chillies and add it to the ingredients when grinding it in the food processor, it makes the process much smoother.
Of course, if you would like to use store-bought laksa paste, you can also follow the recipe below to make laksa. There are many different brands out there so do try them out and share with us which one you like best.
Watch my Laksa Recipe on YouTube
Laksa Made From Scratch Recipe
Detailed Step-by-Step Video
Ingredients
Laksa paste
- 15 dried chillies, soaked in hot water, cut into fine pieces
- 2 red chillis, cut into fine pieces
- ½ cup dried shrimp, soaked and toasted
- 5 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
- 5 shallot, peeled and cut into fine pieces
- 1 inch blue ginger (galangal), peeled and cut into fine pieces
- 1 tsp turmeric , grated or powder
- 4 candle nuts , cut into fine pieces
- 2 stalks lemongrass, bruised and cut into fine pieces
- 3-4 kaffir lime leaves
Laksa
- 150 g dried anchovies , washed
- 30-40 prawns, use prawn heads to make broth or you can also use chicken bones
- 2.5 tbsp cooking oil
- 4 cups water
- 2.5 cups coconut milk
- 2-4 tbsp fish sauce, season to taste
- 10 taupok (tofu puffs), washed and cut into smaller chunks
- 6 portions fresh thick rice noodles, can be substituted with dried rice noodles or rice vermicelli
- 2 cups bean sprouts
- 1-2 fish cakes
- 3-4 hard boiled eggs, halfed
- 1 bunch curry leaves, washed and used as garnish
Instructions
Make the laksa paste
- Soak 1/2 cup dried shrimp in water until softened. Squeeze dry the water.Toast the dried shrimps on a pan over medium heat to release the aroma, then grind it in a food processor into as fine as possible.
- Soak 15 dried chillies in hot water until softened. Cut into smaller piecesOptional to remove the seeds if you prefer less spicy. Save the chilli water for blending later.
- Bruise 2 stalks lemongrass by chopping it with the back of knife to release the oil and flavours. Cut off the top one-third and the root part. Remove the outer layer. Then chop into fine pieces.
- Cut 2 red chillis into smaller pieces. Optional to remove the seeds if you prefer less spicy.
- Cut 5 cloves garlic, 5 shallot, 1 inch blue ginger (galangal) into smaller pieces.
- Remove stem from 3-4 kaffir lime leaves and cut into smaller pieces.
- Add all the laksa paste ingredients in a food processor, add 1 tsp turmeric and 4 candle nuts . Add 2-4 tbsp of chilli water when blending to make it easier to blend.
- Blend until a smooth consistent paste is achieved. This should yield about 450g of laksa paste.
Make the laksa broth
- Wash 150 g dried anchovies . Remove heads from 30-40 prawns. Make broth by boiling 4 cups water with dried anchovies & prawn heads to a reduced 3 cups.
- Heat 2.5 tbsp cooking oil over medium heat. Add laksa paste. Stir fry until fragrant.
- Add 3 cups broth. Bring to boil.
- Add 2.5 cups coconut milk and 2-4 tbsp fish sauce to taste. Bring to boil.
- Wash and cut 10 taupok (tofu puffs) into smaller pieces. Add tofu puffs into the broth. Bring to boil and the laksa broth is ready.
Assemble the laksa dish
- Cook prawns in the laksa broth until cooked and set aside. Alternatively, you can also cook the prawns in water.
- Cook 2 cups bean sprouts in boiling water for about 30 seconds and set aside.
- Cook 6 portions fresh thick rice noodles in boiling water for about 30 seconds or until soften and set aside.Note: You can use (the dried type) rice vermicelli if you can't get thick rice noodles. Hydrate the rice vermicelli in water until softened before heating it up in boiling water.
- Slice 1-2 fish cakes and heat it up in the boiling water for about 15 seconds.
- Cut 1 bunch curry leaves into fine strips to use it as garnish.
- Assemble the laksa dish by placing the rice noodles, bean sprouts, 3-4 hard boiled eggs, prawns, fish cake. Add tofu puffs and the laksa broth.Garnish with curry leaves.Enjoy with a scoop of sambal chilli!
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