MALAYSIAN LAKSA

Malaysian Coconut Laksa Soup

This soup will have your mouth and heart singing with joy, as it is so soothing, nourishing and just tastes sooo dam good! This soup is like getting a big hug from the culinary gods with a gorgeous base of chicken and prawn broths paired with a host of exotic spices from lemongrass, garlic, ginger, shallots and chilli which is finally smoothed out with a splash of coconut milk.

Malaysian Laksa (Nyonya Coconut Milk Laksa)

Serves 2 as a main, Serves 4 as a starter

Ingredients:

For the bone broth:

• 4 organic chicken thigh bones
• 400g prawns, peeled but save the shells and heads 
• 2 litres of fresh filtered water
• 1 teaspoon of coconut oil
• 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon sea salt, adjust to taste
• 1 tablespoon coconut sugar, adjust to taste

For the curry paste:

• 20g dried shrimps
• 10 chillies
• 15g galangal (use ginger if you can't get galangal)
• 6 macadamia nuts
• 15g turmeric root or 3 tablespoons of turmeric
• 3 garlic cloves
• 8 shallots
• 3 drops of lemongrass essential oil or 3 stalks of lemongrass
• 200ml organic full-fat coconut milk

To add at the end:

• 2 portions of organic rice, mung bean or buckwheat noodles (approx 100g per person), blanched
• sambal (recipe below)
• handful of fresh coriander leaves
• handful of fresh mint leaves
• mung bean sprouts (optional)
• 1 organic egg, soft boiled, halved
• few thin slices of organic cucumber
• quarters of limes, to squeeze at the end

For sambal:

• 15 dried chillies, soaked and seeds removed
• 3 fresh chillies
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 tablespoon of coconut milk
• 1 teaspoon of tamarind paste (alternative: 1 teaspoon of lime juice)
• 1 shallot, finely sliced 
• 20g of anchovies
• 125ml of water
• sea salt and unrefined sugar to taste
• coconut oil to fry

Instructions:

1. Heat some coconut oil in a large pot and fry prawn skins and heads until they become fragrant and become a lovely orange colour. Save the actual prawns for later (Step 10). 
2. Cover the prawn skins and heads with 2 litres of fresh filtered water. Add all the remaining ingredients for the broth into the pot of boiling water. Bring the prawn skins and chicken bones to a boil then lower heat, cover and simmer for at least 2-3 hours to extract all the goodness from the bones (ideally 24 hours for chicken if you have a slow cooker).
3. Prepare sambal by placing all sambal ingredients in a blender to form a smooth paste.
4. Then heat a small knob of coconut oil, and transfer sambal into the hot oil and cook for a few minutes until it deepens in colour (approx 5-10 minutes). Remove from pan and set aside for later. (This can be stored in a jar in the fridge for a few weeks). 
5. Blend all curry paste ingredients except coconut milk to make your curry paste.
6. Heat pan with some coconut oil and add curry paste and cook until fragrant.
7. With a fine mesh sieve, strain chicken and prawn broths directly into the pot with the cooked curry paste. Mix thoroughly.
8. Add sea salt and coconut sugar to taste and allow broth to simmer at medium to high heat for 10-15 minutes.
9. Stir in the 200ml of coconut milk at this stage. Allow broth to come to the boil at high heat. When it has boiled, it is ready (do not overboil). 
10. Whilst broth is coming to the boil, blanch prawns and noodles in a pot of boiling water. Place egg in a pot of boiling water and cook for 5 minutes. Remove from boiling water, run under cold water and peel egg immediately. 
11. Place cooked noodles into a bowl, add broth and garnish with prawns, slices of cucumber, fresh coriander, mint and halved soft boiled egg.
12. Serve with sambal.
13. Devour with enthusiasm!