Nonya Laksa
Nonya laksa, also known as laksa lemak, is a Peranakan dish consisting of noodles in a coconut-based curry gravy. And it is a dish I will gladly eat out
- Prep time
- 1 hr
- Cook time
- 1 hr
- Yield
- 8 servings
- Difficulty
- MEDIUM
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 800 g white beehoon ($1.92)
- 18 prawns (250g; shelled & deveined) ($8.75)
- 300 g fishcake (sliced) ($2.50)
- 300 g beansprouts ($0.30)
- 10 stalks laksa leaves (for garnish, slice into thin strips) ($0.20)
- 1.5 l water
- 1 l coconut milk ($3)
- 1 tbsp concentrated chicken stock ($0.20)
- 1 tbsp salt ($0.085)
- 2 tbsp sugar ($0.038)
- 25 dried chillies (deseeded) ($0.10)
- 10 fresh red chillies (deseeded) ($1.30)
- 8 garlic cloves ($0.224)
- 3 stalks lemongrass (bottom part; sliced into rings) ($0.346)
- 6 candlenuts ($0.30)
- 100 g shallots ($0.206)
- 60 g dried shrimps (soaked in hot water) ($1.92)
- 40 g galangal (sliced) ($0.60)
- 40 g ginger (sliced) ($0.60)
- 15 g turmeric (negligible)
- 20 g belachan ($0.134)
- 1 tbsp coriander powder ($0.10)
Instructions
- 1
REMPAH
- 2
In a pot, boil dried red chillies until soft. Remove from pot and deseed the chillies. Deseed the fresh red chillies as well.
- 3
Toast the belachan for a few minutes.
- 4
Blend all the rempah ingredients in a food processor into a paste as fine as possible. This will ensure that the gravy will not be overly grainy. You can add some oil into the food processor to aid the blending process.
- 5
In a frypan, heat a generous amount of oil (about 120ml) over medium heat and add rempah. Fry for 15-20 minutes, until rempah darkens and oil separates from the rempah.
- 6
LAKSA GRAVY
- 7
In a big pot, add 1.5 litres of water and boil the prawn heads & shells until flavours are released. Remove prawn heads & shells.
- 8
Add rempah and half of the laksa leaves into pot and bring to a boil.
- 9
Add coconut milk and laksa leaves into the pot and simmer for 5 minutes. Add concentrated chicken stock, salt and sugar, and adjust according to preference.
- 10
Meanwhile, boil the tofu puffs in another pot for just a while. Remove from pot and slice into strips. Add tofu puffs into laksa gravy and simmer for another 5 minutes.
- 11
OTHERS
- 12
Blanch the beansprouts and set aside.
- 13
Boil the prawns and set aside.
- 14
Boil the fishcake and cut into thin slices.
- 15
Cook some white beehoon and put into a bowl. Add beansprouts, fishcake, prawns and tofu puffs on top of the beehoon. Ladle some gravy into the bowl, and finally garnish with some laksa leaves.