Kuala Lumpur Chicken and Prawn Curry Laksa

I found this description for a Laksa which sums it up quite well: “Spicy curry soup with a twist. Coconut based curry; tasty, rich, concentrated curry broth. Steaming hot, noodles with garnishes thrown in. Meat, typically chicken as a non-vegetable added kick.”

Although this was supposed to have a dominant prawn/shrimp taste, I couldn’t find shrimp paste or dried shrimps anywhere and in the end I left these out of the recipe. The recipe below is my adaptation of a recipe I found on the Masterchef Australia website.

Ingredients

Laksa spice paste
20g piece ginger, chopped
3 fat garlic cloves
2 stalks lemongrass, chopped (Be sure to chop these really, really fine)
75g shallots, roughly chopped (I used small pickle onions as a replacement)
20g cashew nuts
2 teaspoons fish curry spice
20g turmeric

4 fresh long red finger chillies
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon oil (I used sunflower oil but a neutral oil is preferred)

Coconut milk, garlic, chillies, tofu, fish sauce & salt

Ginger, cashew nuts, lemon grass, tumeric, spring onion
& egg noodle

Laksa paste

Soup
3 tablespoons oil, for frying
Laksa spice paste
Prawn stock (The heads & shells of the peeled prawns are used for the prawn stock)
400ml coconut milk
1 tablespoon sugar (Couldn't find palm sugar so I used normal sugar as a substitute. The palm sugar turns into a caramel making the sauce/soup more sticky)
160g chicken breast, cut into 1cm slices
250g raw peeled prawns

200g firm tofu, cut to 1cm thick slices (A type of cheese. No real taste of its own but takes on the flavour of the sauce)
2 tablespoons fish sauce (Used in many asian dishes – similar to soya sauce, very salty)
400g fresh egg noodles, loosened

To serve
100g cooked green beans, chopped
3 spring onions, trimmed and thinly sliced on the diagonal, to serve
A handful of mixed mint and coriander leaves, to serve Lime wedges, to serve

Method 

1. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a wok or frying pan, add prawn heads and shells and stir-fry for a couple of minutes until they are crisp and golden.

2. Add 1 litre of water, bring to the boil, reduce heat and leave to simmer for 30 minutes. Strain liquid into a large jug and discard heads and shells.

3. Cut tofu into 1cm thick pieces and fry in hot oil until crisp, drain well on a paper towel-lined plate.

Fried Tofu

4. For laksa spice paste, place chillies into a mortar and pestle and pound into a paste. Add the remaining ingredients and pound to a smooth paste.

A messy kitchen

5. For soup, heat oil in a large frying pan or wok over a high heat, add all the spice paste and fry gently for 2-3 minutes, stirring continuously until mixture starts to smell fragrant and split. Add prawn stock, coconut milk and palm sugar and begin to reduce. Add chicken and prawns and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Pour in 1-2 tablespoons of fish sauce and stir to combine.

Laksa paste & chicken cubes

Frying the Laksa paste

Adding all the other ingredients

6. Drop in the fresh egg noodles and leave to heat through for a few minutes. Taste Laksa and season with more sugar and fish sauce if desired.

Egg Noodles

7. To serve, arrange bean sprouts, cooked green beans, fried tofu and noodles in the bottom of a serving dish. Ladle over curry soup. Garnish with spring onions, mint, coriander and a squeeze of lime juice.

Coriander, Mint and spring onion

The result...

Where to find it:

Tofu - Food Lover’s Market / Fresh Earth Food Store

Lemon Grass - Food Lover’s Market / Fresh Earth Food Store

Fish curry spice - Food Lover’s Market / Fresh Earth Food Store 

Dried Shrimp - Apparently there is a shop in Honeydew that sells this. Will need to go & find it...

Coconut milk - Food Lover’s Market / Fresh Earth Food Store / PnP

Egg Noodles - Food Lover’s Market