Laksa Lemak – coconut curry soup
Laksa Lemak
I’ve harboured deep Laksa love for more than twenty years. A small and unassuming Malaysian cafe in suburban Melbourne is responsible. Laksa Lemak from the Penang Coffee House was our regular Sunday dinner for close to 20 years, a high point before diving back into the working week.
Digestive issues put a stop to that. I decided a bowl of steaming coconut curry soup made without onion, garlic, crispy fried shallots and hokkein noodles would sully my taste expectations so I abandoned my love and let the flavour become a lingering memory. It was a memory hard to suppress.
The Penang Coffee House is well away from temptation now, but the flavour longing stayed with me. With nothing to lose but time, I embarked on recreating the delicious laksa flavour using ingredients I could eat without repercussions. There was a huge amount of enjoyment in consuming the works-in-progress, all were delicious although it took a couple of attempts to get the well rounded fragrant spicy flavour and murky laksa textural finish right.
The Laksa paste is the most important part of this recipe, it’s the flavour bomb for the soup. Don’t stint on the quantities of aromatics. They may seem excessive for two large bowls of soup, but they are the heart and soul of a steaming good laksa. The paste can be made well ahead and stored in the fridge for a few days.
I used a handwritten recipe from my cooking mentor Marieke, and Simon Bryant’s Laksa recipe from his book “Vegies” for guidance. My palate did the rest.
What makes a Laksa distinctive is the broth, but noodles are important too, usually two contrasting types then tofu, chicken, seafood and vegetables are added at the cook’s discretion. I followed Bryant’s suggestion and served the soup topped with fresh coriander leaves and Vietnamese mint.
Totally inauthentic but enormously enjoyable, this is a fabulous spicy dinner soup for those who follow the FODMAP diet and love to cook.
Don’t be deterred by the length of the list of ingredients. Organisation makes this a fairly quick dish to prepare.
While the laksa paste was toasting I used a large pot of boiling water with a fitted steamer to cook the spaghetti, but left it with a little bite. At the same time I steamed the chicken and prawns on top. I then used the spaghetti water to soak the bean thread noodles.
Once the broth was complete, and simmering, I lightly steamed the vegetables then reheated the noodles in the bottom pot of water for 1 minute, before draining and dividing between two large soup bowls. I then added the vegetables and proteins, ladelled over the simmering broth then topped the lot with bean shoots and herbs. The heat of the broth heated the tofu chicken and prawns and finished cooking the vegetables.
Laksa for 2
for the paste:
1 birdseye chilli, sliced
1 1/2 teaspoon blachan (fermented fish paste)
1 tablespoon dried shrimp
2 kaffir lime leaves, chiffonade
1 lime, shredded zest only
3 stalks of lemongrass, tender heart only, bruised and sliced
2 tablespoons grated root ginger
3 coriander roots, scraped and thoroughly washed and chopped
45g macadamia nuts
3 teaspoons Malay curry powder
pinch of asafoetida
To make the paste:
Blitz all the ingredients together in a food processor. Set aside.
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noodles:
90g GF spaghetti
40g bean thread vermicelli
Cook the spaghetti to the manufacturer’s minimum recommended time instruction. Drain refresh and set aside.
Soak the bean thread vermicelli in boiling water for 5 minutes, drain, refresh and set aside.
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protein:
1 chicken breast, steamed and shredded
6 prawns, shelled and steamed
125g firm tofu, cut into 2cm dice
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vegetables:
2 small bok choy, quartered
1/2 carrot, sliced diagonally
2 shiitake mushrooms, sliced
1/2 bunch broccolini
Lightly steam the vegetables
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soup:
300mls coconut milk
300mls prawn stock
400mls chicken stock
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seasonings:
Thai fish sauce
lime juice
brown sugar
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garnishes:
125g bean shoots
fresh coriander leaves
Vietnamese mint leaves
2 kaffir lime leaves, chiffonade
Heat 2 tablespoons of peanut oil in a small pan.
Add all of the laksa paste and cook over a medium heat until it well toasted and fragrant, about 10-15 minutes.
Add the coconut milk and stock and simmer for another 10 minutes.
Season to taste with fish sauce, lime juice and a little brown sugar.
Divide the lightly cooked warm noodles, tofu, meat and vegetables to two large soup bowls.
Ladle over the broth.
Garnish with coriander, Vietnamese mint, extra chilli and lime leaf.
Serve immediately.
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32 comments on “Laksa Lemak – coconut curry soup”
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Please Pass the Recipe by Sandra Gay is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.
Please Pass the Recipe 
Only tried once, but the taste has been engraved in my mind since 2009. I cannot wait to do it for the first time. Thanks for sharing the recipe, it sure looks delicious 🙂
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The flavour of laska is worth remembering, I hope you enjoy my recipe if you try it
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I’m not at all familiar with Malaysian cuisine, Sandra, so this curry is completely new to me. I think I’ll try to locate a Malaysian restaurant before I attempt to prepare your laksa. Authentic or not, it would be nice to at least have a general idea of what to aim for. 🙂
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This looks and sounds marvellous, love the idea of red miso in place of the shrimp paste for a veggie alternative.
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I had laksa the other night in a restaurant in Perth – Nasi Lemak. It was excellent and I was just thinking I should make it myself again. I love your recipe.
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Thanks Jules, no need to convince you then how satisfying a good laksa an be…
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wow does that look good! Such fabulous ingredients and flavors! I hope I can get everything to make this soup.
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Give it your best shot, laksa is totally delicious
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Love, love, love laksa and with no food allergies can indulge in the classic recipes . . .but yours sounds very interesting and shall put the recipe atop my kitchen file and try! Yes, love the Beer/Bryant version also and fondly remember their TV series. Hope everyone Australian knows Maggie has a wonderful monthly newsletter on line and a great farm shop from which to buy goodies unavailable elsewhere. Lots of special packages – yes, I am ‘addicted’ 🙂 ! She also runs a very successful MB Fund and is making good, interesting healthy food for older Australians in institutional care the priority for the rest of her life: admirable!!!
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After the totally horrific experience I had with my Dad in care, Maggie’s initiative gives me hope that there just might be proper food if my kids deem nursing home care necessary for me. We just have to work on getting care of the emotional, physical, and intellectual needs of aged care inpatients improved a few 1000%. Laksa lovers unite…..
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Let’s take it in small steps! This is a worldwide problem. Let us keep it within our country for just a moment!! I have an ‘old folks home’ within our gated community here . . . and I shudder!! About all you talk about: but, in this case, food!! At the moment, under not flush c’stances, hers is one of the few causes I fervently support – and I DO hope that her recognition will make just a tad of difference . . . any of you reading, click on, see what you think . . .
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G’day Sandra – yes, no one should have to forgo the joy of a good Laksa. Yours sounds delish!
Have bookmarked your recipe, but I’m afraid I’ve been spoilt/ rewarded for the past few years. On visiting my aged parents, a near 3 hr drive, I always end up at Noodle Johnny’s in Carrum Downs. The name of the place doesn’t do the food justice – The wok tosser is Korean, but he has a good handle on this Malay classic.
And yes, the Penang Coffee house was a fave, when living around that necko the wood too.
thanks again
Brian
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There’s something addictive about the flavours of laksa, glad you can get a regular fix. Nailing the recipe and keeping my gut happy has been a major achievement
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Your determination is admirable! I’m glad you got there and can now get your laksa fix. Simon Bryant and Maggie Beer on a Cook and a Chef is still one of my all time favourite shows.
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The cook and the chef was a great series and I’m really pleased to have Bryant’s book on my shelf. It’s wonderful to have found a way through the laksa maze
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Sounds and looks delicious, Sandra.
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Just delicious Ardys, it really satisfied my longing
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This sounds fabulous and would love to make it, but need to take into account my husband’s shellfish allergy. Perhaps with a little kitchen experimentation of my own, I can come up with something equally delicious.
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It seems we all have food challenges to work around, it makes like interesting. One of the recipes I used as a reference is for a vegan laksa. He suggests in lieu of blachan and dried shrimp to use a fermented soy product. Red miso should do the job, then just omit the prawns and use all chicken or veg stock. Replace the fish sauce with light soy. I hope that helps and tempts you to make laksa
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Delicious!!! I just had some on a trip to Singapore and have been meaning to make some too…great share!!
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Thanks Shy, I bet the Singapore laksa was awesome…
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Sounds wonderful, love a good laksa.
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Thanks Linda, everyone seems to love laksa
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I’m so grateful that I can still eat onions and garlic! I make cheat’s laksa with commercial paste but zing it up with my own home grown lime zest and lemongrass, and I make it with wok-ready noodles or bean thread, depending on what I have. It’s a firm favourite with both of us to use up leftover roast chook, immensely comforting and delicious. Yours is far more authentic and must be infinitely more complex.
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Sometimes short cuts are life-savers Kate, and I know there are some excellent ready made curry pastes on the market but sadly my fructose intolerance make them a no go zone. I just really glad to have come up with a laksa I can eat. I can’t believe I left it so long.
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I love laksa too, and yours sounds delicious. It is on my menu for next week!
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There seem to be loads of Laksa fans, this is a good one. I hope you like it Anne
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Hopefully I will remember to let you know!
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This is what I want, no need,tonight. Am so ill again, a bowl of laksa would slide down so nicely.
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I wish I could home deliver a good dose of sunshine and a seafood laksa, get well quickly
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This looks so mouthwatering! 😀
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Oh it is Jhuls, an all time favourite of mine
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