RECIPE: SEAFOOD LAKSA

This recipe can be adapted to include almost any seafood you have at hand. Add Mussels, Cockles, Scallops or any fish you fancy, just remember not to overcook them as they’ll continue cooking in the residual heat of the soup.

This is one of my laksa versions. I’ll post a different version in the coming months when I make this dish again. Here’s how I made SEAFOOD LAKSA.

Ingredients: serves 6

⅓ cup vegetable oil
1 to 2 cups Laksa Paste (ingredients below)
¼ cup dried shrimp – soaked in water, drained and finely ground in a mortar and pestle
1 litre chicken stock
500 ml coconut milk
2 stems lemongrass - cut into 7cm lengths
A good pinch salt
200 g calamari/squid - cleaned and honeycombed
18 medium green prawns - peeled and de-veined
200 g Ling fish fillet - cut into bite-size pieces
3 seafood highlighter – cut into bite-size pieces (optional)
1 fish cake – sliced thinly
1 kg Hokkien noodles
250 g rice vermicelli – soaked to softened (optional)
12 deep fried tofu puffs - cut half at an angle
2 cups bean sprouts
1 lime - juiced
2 tablespoon fish sauce
½ bunch Vietnamese mint - to serve (optional)
½ bunch coriander - to serve
Lime wedges - to serve

Laksa Paste:
2 tablespoon coriander seeds, roasted and ground
4 teaspoons cumin seeds, roasted and ground
15 medium-sized dried red chillies, ground
3 brown onions, roughly chopped
4 cm piece ginger, peeled and sliced
6 cloves garlic
8 candlenuts
4 long red chilli, deseeded and roughly chopped
1 teaspoon ground turmeric

Method

Laksa Paste: combine all ingredients in a food processor to form a paste.

Heat the oil in a wok. Fry the Laksa Paste for 5-10 minutes, until the oil floats to the top. Add dried shrimp and stir through. Add chicken stock, coconut milk, lemongrass and salt. Bring to the boil, stirring occasionally and simmer for 20 minutes.

In the meanwhile, blanch noodles in boiling water for 2 minutes, until soft. Divide drained noodles, fish cake, tofu puffs and bean sprouts between 6 deep serving bowls.

During the last few minutes of the gravy making process, add in the fish pieces to the gravy, then the prawns and, after 1 minute, the squid and seafood highlighter. Remove from heat as soon as the fish turns white. Taste, and add lime juice and fish sauce to taste. Ladle soup into the serving bowls, whilst distributing the seafood evenly.

NB: I added the coriander and Vietnamese mint to the soup with the fish sauce to enhance the flavour of the laksa.