Malaysian•gourmet

Malaysian Curry Laksa (King Prawns and Chicken Laksa)

King Prawns and Chicken Laksa is a celebrated curry soup from the Nonya cuisine. Tangy, spicy, sour with slightly creamy coconut flavours.

Ingredients

5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 kg extra-large fresh king prawns (shelled and deveined, tails intact (wash and reserve prawn shells))
1 kg skinless and boneless chicken breasts (or thighs. Trimmed and thickly sliced)
400 ml gluten free coconut milk
2 litres water
4 tbsp salt (or to taste)
15 curry leaves
200 g gluten free fried tofu puffs (halved crosswise into triangles)
450 g rice vermicelli (or rice sticks)
200 g fresh bean sprouts (1 packet)
3 clove garlic
1 medium brown onion (cut into wedges)
8 long fresh red chillies (deseeded and cut into 3cm pieces)
3 small fresh red chillies (deseeded (optional))
5 kaffir lime leaves (stems removed and leaves finely sliced)
3 cm fresh galangal (peeled and finely sliced)
3 cm fresh ginger (peeled and finely sliced)
3 cm fresh turmeric (peeled and finely sliced or 1 teaspoon ground turmeric)
1 stem lemon grass (white part only, finely sliced)
1 tsp ground coriander seeds
1 tsp ground cumin seeds
1 tsp ground paprika
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1
Add the ingredients for the spice paste into a food processor and blend until you get a smooth paste. Alternatively, you can use a mortar and pestle if preferred.
2
Fill a medium pot with half full of water and bring to a boil. Turn the heat to low, submerge the rice noodles into the water for about 5 minutes or until noodles are soft. Drain the water, and set the noodles aside.
3
Heat up another large pot with 5 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, add the spice paste and curry leaves and stir-fry for 10 minutes or until aromatic on medium heat.
4
Add the prawn shells, coconut milk, salt and water to the curry paste and stir and mix well. Bring to a boil, then cover with lid and turn the heat to low and simmer lightly for 10 minutes.
5
Cook the prawns in the curry laksa soup for 3 minutes or until just cooked through. Remove and set aside in a bowl.
6
Then cook the chicken pieces in the same curry laksa soup for 3 minutes or until chicken is just cooked through. Remove and set aside in a bowl.
7
Lastly, cook the gluten free fried tofu puffs in the curry laksa soup for 2 minutes or until the tofu puffs has absorbed the laksa soup and softens. Remove and set aside in a bowl.
8
Remove all prawn shells from the laksa soup and discard.
9
For each serving, place some rice noodles in the serving bowl, top with a few prawns, some chicken pieces and some tofu puffs. Garnish with some bean sprouts. Then serve with hot curry laksa soup.