[thechat] Recipe: Laksa Lemak

[Madhu Menon]

As promised, here is the first of my standardised restaurant recipes.

Laksa is a one-dish meal of rice noodles and seafood in a spicy curry soup.
You can also make it with chicken if you want. I'm not too fond of noodle
soups so I tend to leave the noodles out.

This is among my top 5 dishes to try in Singapore. I cannot get enough of
it. It's full of flavour and can be a meal by itself, depending on the
garnishes you use.

Serves 2
Time taken: 45-60 minutes (but it's worth every minute)


WHAT YOU NEED

Raw medium-sized prawns (shrimp) unshelled - 200 gm (this dish really isn't
suitable for those tiny shrimp you see in fried rice.)
Crab meat (optional) - 60 gm (~2 oz.)
Groundnut (peanut) oil - 2 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Water - 2 cups
Rice vermicelli, dried - 100 gm
Cucumber - a few sticks, peeled and cut into 1 inch strips
Bean sprouts - 50 gm
Coriander leaves (Cilantro) - 2 tbsp
Mint leaves - 2 tbsp


For the soup:
(Spice paste)
Dried red chillies (or fresh red chillies) - 2 large
Dried prawns (shrimp) - 2 tsp
Shallots - 4-6
Galangal - 4 thin slices about 1 inch in diameter
Cashew nuts or macadamia nuts - 2
Lemon grass - 1 fat stalk
Coriander plant STEMS - 2 tbsp
Salt - 1 tsp

Ground coriander powder - 1 tsp
Ground turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp (careful, it stains like hell)
Sugar - 2 level tsp
Peanut oil - 1.5-2 tablespoons
1 cup thick coconut milk


HOW TO MAKE IT

1. Preparing the prawn stock

Remove the shells from the prawns. Devein the prawns and set aside.
Heat the 2 tsp oil in a frying pan and add the shells. Stir-fry till they
turn pink (or red). Add the 1/2 tsp salt and the 2 cups of water. Cover and
simmer for about 30-45 minutes till it is reduced by half. When done,
strain the stock through a fine-mesh sieve and discard the shells. While
the stock is simmering, get the other stuff done. :)

2. Soak the rice vermicelli in warm water for 10 minutes. Drain and set aside.

3. If you're using dried red chillies, remove the stems (careful not to
touch the seeds or the thread inside). Soak them along with the dried
prawns in 1/2 cup hot water for 10 minutes.

4. If you want your sprouts done "properly", pinch the tails off. I usually
don't bother. Chop the coriander and mint leaves finely and mix them together.

5. Preparing the spice paste

Remove the first 2-3 layers off the lemon grass stalk till you see the
tender white portion. (Don't throw them away. You can lightly crush them
and add them to the stock for more flavour. They're just too fibrous for a
spice paste.)
Use only the bottom 4-6 inches. Crush the lemon grass lightly with the flat
side of a cleaver or with a kitchen mallet so that the fibres are exposed.
This releases the citrus oil in the lemon grass. Chop into thin rounds.
Put the spice paste ingredients - chillies, dried prawns, lemon grass,
cashew nuts, shallots, coriander stems, salt, and galangal - into a
powerful food processor and process till the cows come home or until you
have a fine paste with no visible chunky pieces. From time to time, stop
and stir the paste so that it's processed evenly. If it needs more water,
add some of the soaking liquid of the dried chillies.

Okey dokey, your rempah (spice paste) is ready. If you wish, you can simply
double or triple the quantities given to make larger quantities of the
paste. Be careful with the salt, however. Try only 1.5 times the salt
instead of double. Adjust later if more is needed. The paste keeps well in
the fridge for weeks in a tightly covered glass jar.

6. Heat a wok or frying pan till hot. (A non-stick one will be very helpful
here.) Add the 2 tbsp peanut oil. Turn the heat down to medium low and add
the spice paste. Keep stirring to avoid burning. Fry till it turns brown
and becomes fragrant - about 5-6 minutes. Add the ground coriander powder
and ground turmeric powder and fry for another minute.

7. Add the strained stock and sugar and simmer for 15 minutes. Then add
half of the thick coconut milk and simmer for another 5 minutes. Now add
the crab meat (if using) and the deveined prawns and simmer for around 2-3
minutes till the prawns turn opaque. Do not overcook prawns - they turn
leathery. When in doubt, undercook them. They will continue to cook in the
warm soup.

8. Add the rest of the coconut milk and turn off the heat. Taste a bit for
seasoning - sweetness and saltiness - and adjust if necessary. If you want
it more piquant, add a teaspoon of lemon juice.

9. We're almost there, mate. Hold yer horses. Quit asking, "Are we there yet?"

10. Take two nice large Chinese porcelain soup bowls and divide the
coriander-mint mixture equally between them. Divide the rice vermicelli
also equally between them. Pour the hot soup into the bowls. Garnish with
cucumber strips and bean sprouts on top. To have it real Singapore style,
keep some chilli paste handy. :)

Ta da! Your Laksa soup is ready. It will be slightly spicy, but you'll love
it. Your tongue will never have experienced such exquisite pain. If you're
totally averse to chilli, you probably shouldn't have this. Making a "mild"
version of this dish would rob it of its flavour.


CHEF'S NOTES

1) The original recipe calls for garnishing with fried fish cakes (sliced)
and fried tofu cubes torn in half. I didn't want to make the recipe too
complicated so I have left them out. If you have the time or patience,
deep-fry some tofu cubes till golden brown and slice them horizontally in
half. They act like a sponge, soaking up the flavour. As for fish cakes,
you need to make them out of ground (minced) fish meat, salt, pepper -
finely processed, shaped into rectangles and deep fried too. Don't bother
with either till you're sure you like Laksa.

2) The original recipe calls for Laksa leaf (Vietnamese mint.) If you find
it, great. I've substituted a mixture of cilantro and mint leaves. They
need to be as fresh as possible.

3) If you want to use chicken instead of prawns, poach a chicken breast in
water with a slice of ginger, a spring onion (scallion), and a bit of salt
over very low heat for 5-6 minutes. Let it stand in the water for 15
minutes. Remove the chicken, shred the chicken meat, strain the poaching
liquid and use *that* instead of the prawn stock. You can also add a
chicken stock cube to it. If the cube is salted, don't add extra salt to
the soup as described in the recipe.

4) Substitutions: Unfortunately, not much you can change here.

* You can use Malay or Thai dried shrimp paste instead of the dried shrimp
(the Thai paste - Kapi - is much stronger than the Malay paste called
Blachan, so adjust accordingly).

* Lemon grass should be fresh. The dried version is useless. If you can't
find fresh lemon grass, substitute with grated lemon rind of one lemon. Not
quite the same, however.

* Dried galangal *can* be used instead of fresh. If so, soak it in hot
water till it's soft and pliable.

* Red onions can be used instead of shallots in a pinch.

* The original recipe calls for candlenuts (also called kemiri nuts) but
cashews are an acceptable replacement. But if you can find candlenuts in
Asian shops, use them!

Add the fish cake and tofu, and this IS a full meal. Your kitchen will also
be fragrant for a long time.
As always, I want to know how it turned out for you. Feedback is welcome,
both on and off-list. If you have doubts about any ingredients, let me know.

Regards,

Madhu "The Mad Chef" Menon

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Madhu Menon
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