Singapore laksa

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This delicious coconut and curry noodle soup is packed with spice and other delicious flavors.

Prep Time10

Cook Time25

Total Time35

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Singaporean

Servings:

Calories: 640kcal

Author: Caroline

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Ingredients

For stock

10 oz shell on shrimp prawns, raw (will use again below)
4 cups water

For spice paste

10 dried red chilis or more to taste, can also add some fresh red chili
½ cup shallots diced, approx 4
1 tablespoon galangal chopped volume
1 tablespoon ginger chopped volume
3 cloves garlic or less if larger
1 stalk lemongrass or more if thin/smaller
3 tablespoon candlenuts or use macadamia and/or cashews
1 teaspoon turmeric powder or use fresh turmeric root and use roughly double
2 tablespoon dried shrimp
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 tablespoon belacan fermented shrimp paste

For rest of dish

½ tablespoon neutral oil eg vegetable, canola, approximately
2 cups coconut milk
2 tablespoon fish sauce
2 teaspoon sugar
½ lb rice noodles dried weight (laksa noodles if available)

Garnishes

½ cup beansprouts approximately, or a little more - a small handful per bowl
6 tofu puffs approximately
a few sprigs of Vietnamese mint or mint, plus sambal if available/to taste

Instructions

To make the stock

Remove the shells and heads from the shrimp and place them in a pot. Devein the shrimp and refrigerate until needed later. Add the water to the pot with the shrimp shells, cover and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat and simmer around 20 minutes to make a flavorful broth. Strain to remove solids and set aside. As the broth is cooking, prepare the spice paste.

To make spice paste

Soak the dried chilis in some boiling hot water as you prepare the other ingredients. Peel and chop the shallot, galangal, ginger and garlic. Remove the outer layer of lemongrass and finely chop. Place all the spice paste ingredients (chilis, shallot, galangal, ginger, garlic, lemongrass, nuts, turmeric, coriander and belecan) in a blender and blend until smooth. You may need to scrape down sides and re-blend a few times, as needed.
Both the broth and paste can be made ahead of time and refrigerated until needed.

To make rest of dish

Warm the oil in a large pot/pan and add the spice paste. Cook for a minute or two to bring out the aromas in the paste then add the shrimp stock and coconut milk, fish sauce and sugar. Stir to mix everything well. Bring to a simmer then reduce the heat, cover and cook around 10 minutes to let the flavors mingle. You can also make the broth ahead and store it in the fridge then re-heat as needed.
While the broth is cooking, cook the rice noodles according to packet instructions and drain. During the last minute of the noodles cooking, add the shrimp to cook in the boiling water and remove once cooked and no longer opaque.
Prepare garnishes by frying the tofu puffs until crisp then cutting into chunks, roughly quarters. Remove herbs from any thicker stems and have them and beansprouts ready.
Add some noodles to the bottom of each bowl. Stir the broth mixture in case spice paste has settled to bottom and then ladle over the noodles. Add garnishes on top - the cooked shrimp, tofu puffs, beansprouts and herbs, then serve.

Notes

You can also add fish cakes instead of or as well as the shrimp on top, but you will still need shrimp stock for the base so I find shrimp easier to serve both purposes (plus they're tasty!)

Nutrition

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