Malaysian Curry Laksa

Traditionally made with rice noodles, prawns, chicken, tofu puffs and fish balls, this Malaysian curry laksa is not a dish of subtlety. A balance of sweet, sour, salty and spicy elements, popular accompaniments include Vietnamese mint and fried Asian shallots.

SERVES

4-6

PREPARATION

50MIN

COOKING

20MIN

Ingredients

• 60 ml (¼ cup) vegetable oil
• 1.5 litre chicken stock
• 2½ tsp grated palm sugar
• 450 g chicken thighs with bone and skin, or chicken thigh fillets, thickly sliced
• 12 large raw king prawns, shelled, intestinal tract removed, tails left intact
• 500 ml (2 cups) coconut milk
• 12 fish balls (see Note)
• 150 gtofu puffs (see note), thickly sliced 
• 200 g(2½ cups) beansprouts
• 500 g fresh thin rice noodles (see Note)
• fried Asian shallots (see Note), Vietnamese mint leaves (see Note), chilli sambal (see Note) (optional) and lime wedges, to serve

Laksa paste

• 8 small dried red chillies (see Note)
• 2 tbspdried shrimp (see Note)
• 5 red Asian shallots (see Note), chopped
• 1 tbsp finely chopped galangal (see Note)
• 3garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 large lemongrass stalks, trimmed, chopped
• 6 candlenuts (see Note), chopped
• 1 tbsp belachan (dried shrimp paste) (see Note)
• 2 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp sweet paprika
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground turmeric

Cook's notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.

Instructions

Standing time 20 minutes

To make laksa paste, place chillies and shrimp in two separate bowls and cover both with enough boiling water to cover. Leave for 20 minutes or until softened. Drain well, then process with remaining ingredients in a food processor to a smooth paste.

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add laksa paste and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes or until fragrant. Add stock and sugar. Stir to combine, then bring to a simmer. Add chicken, return to a simmer and cook for 4 minutes. Add prawns and cook for 1 minute or until chicken is cooked through and prawns are almost cooked.

Add coconut milk, fish balls, tofu puffs and beansprouts. Stir gently to combine, then bring almost to a simmer. Reduce heat to low and cook for 2 minutes or until prawns are just cooked, beansprouts are wilted and fish balls and tofu are heated through.

Meanwhile, place noodles in a large bowl. Pour over enough boiling water to cover, then stand for 2 minutes or until heated through. Drain well. Divide noodles, then laksa mixture among bowls. Scatter over fried shallots and mint leaves. Spoon over chilli sambal, if desired, and serve immediately with lime wedges.

Note• These ingredients are available from Asian food shops.
• For more information on ingredients, read the article.

  

As seen in Feast magazine, October 2011, Issue 2. For more recipes and articles, pick up a copy of this month's Feast magazine or check out our great subscriptions offers here.

Malaysian Chicken Curry

There are countless ways of making Malaysian-style chicken curries and there are various recipes. However, this Malaysian chicken curry recipe is very easy chicken curry that you can make with easy-to-find ingredients.

Serves 4-6 people | Prep Time: 15 Minutes | Cook Time: 30-45 minutes

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons oil
1/2 onion, diced
1 oz (25 g) curry powder for meat
1 1/2 lbs chicken, chopped into pieces
3 cups water
1 big tomato, cut into wedges, optional
2 small potatoes, peeled and cut into wedges
4 hard-boiled eggs, optional
1/2 cup coconut milk (or 3/4 cup milk)
Salt to taste

Method:

Add the oil to a big pot and heat it up until hot. Add the onions and stir-fry until aromatic before adding the curry powder. Do a few quick stirs until you smell the aroma, then add the chicken, stir to combine well, for about 1 minute. Add the water into the pot and bring it to boil. Lower the heat and add the tomatoes, potatoes and eggs. Cover the pot and let simmer for about 30-45 minutes, or until chicken becomes tender. Add the coconut milk and salt to taste and simmer for another 5 minutes or so. Dish out and serve immediately with steamed rice.

Roti Canai

A classic Malaysian breakfast of Indian derivation, though this flaky finger food is good any time of day (and really good at about three in the morning). A dough of flour, egg, and ghee (clarified butter) is incredibly, almost unbelievably elastic; it's stretched quickly into a tissue-thin sheet, like pizza dough but even more dramatic, then folded back up and griddled. In its best form, right off the griddle, it's flaky and crisp like a good croissant on the outside, soft and steaming and a little bit chewy on the inside. It's also served with curry, often lentil dal; other versions are cooked with egg, or onion, or sardines.

Ingredients :

600 g plain wheat flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup warm water or milk

1/2 cup ghee or margarine

1 egg

1 teaspoon sugar

Method :

• Sift the flour and salt together.
• Knead flour, egg, sugar and ghee with water/milk (a little at a time) good enough to make a moderately soft dough or easy to handle.
• Leave for 2-3 hours or overnight.
• Divide dough into 8 equal parts.
• Shape it into balls.
• Flatten each ball with a rolling pin and fold in 1/2 teaspoon ghee.
• Roll up dough and twist it into a coil. Pressing one open end onto the top.
• Roll it again as thin as possible into a round shape.
• Beginning at one of the open ends, roll up dough tightly and coil it again as before.
• Roll out dough slowly onto lightly floured surface (to ensure air is not forced out).
• Heat a pan.
• Bake individually over a moderate heat.
• Turn it over and spread a little ghee on it until both sides are golden brown.

To serve

• Serve roti canai with curry dhal or pickled onion. It can also be eaten with sugar.

Asam Laksa Penang

About this recipe: This is a spicy-sour fish base noodle soup that is known in Penang, an island state in northwest Peninsular Malaysia. It's mouth-watering and delicious!

SuharaKuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Ingredients

Serves: 6 

• 600 gms of mackerel
• 6 cups (1.5L) water
• 3 sprigs polygonum leaves (daun kesum)
• 2 ginger buds, sliced
• 4-5 pieces asam keping, (dried tamarind slices)
• 5 tablespoons (75ml) tamarind juice
• 600 gms thick rice noodles (laksa noodles)
• Salt and sugar to taste
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• Spice Blend:
• 10 shallots
• 2 lemongrass
• 2.5 in fresh galangal
• 5 dried chillies, soaked in water, discard seeds
• 3 fresh red chillies
• 1 teaspoon dried shrimp paste
• Garnish:
• 1/2 fresh pineapple, sliced in small pieces
• 1 medium cucumber, cut in matchstick slices
• 2 large red onions, sliced thinly
• 3 red chillies, sliced
• a few sprigs of mint leaves, torn
• a few sprigs of polygonum leaves, shredded
• Black prawn paste condiment (petis)

Directions

Prep:20min  ›  Cook:20min  ›  Ready in:40min 

1. Simmer the cleaned whole fish in a pot of water until cooked. Remove fish and let cool before separating the flesh from the bone. Flake the flesh in small pieces.
2. Strain the stock and add to the pot with tamarind juice, ginger buds, polygonum, fish and sugar to taste.
3. Blend the spice paste ingredients until fine. Add to the stock along with the asam keping. Simmer for 20-30 minutes and the soup thickens slightly then add salt to taste.
4. Blanch the laksa noodles in boiling water, drain and set aside.
5. To serve: Put some noodles in a bowl and ladle the soup over it. Put a pinch of each garnishing ingredient over the top and serve.

Penang Hokkien Mee Recipe (Prawn Mee / Har Meen / Mee Yoke / 福建虾面)

Stock ingredients:

1 ziploc bag of shrimp heads and shells (I used Ziplock Easy Zipper Bag)
15 cups of water (reduced to about 12-13 cups of water after hours of boiling and simmering)
2-3 pieces of rock sugar (about the size of a small ping pong ball) or to taste
1.5 lbs of pork ribs (cut into pieces)
Salt to taste

Chili Paste:

30 dried chilies (deseeded and soaked to soften)
10 shallots (peeled)
5 cloves garlic (peeled)
2 tablespoons of water
6 tablespoons of cooking oil

1 pound of yellow noodles (scalded)
1 pack of rice vermicelli (scalded)
Some kangkong or water convolvulus (scalded)
Some bean sprouts (scalded)

Toppings:

1/2 pound of lean pork meat (boiled and sliced thinly)
1/2 pound shrimp (shelled and deveined)
6 hard-boiled eggs (shelled and quartered)
Some fried shallot crisps (store-bought)

Blend the chili paste ingredients with a mini food processor until finely ground and well blended. Heat up the wok and add cooking oil. Stir fry the chili paste for 5 minutes. Dish up and set aside. On the same wok (unwashed), add in a little oil and cook the shrimp topping. Add in a little chili paste, sugar, and salt. Pan-fried the shrimp until they are slightly burned. Dish up, let cool and sliced them into halves.

Method:

1. Add 15 cups of water into a pot and bring it to bowl. Add in all the shrimp heads and shell and simmer on low heat for about 2 hours or longer until the stock becomes cloudy and tastes really prawny.
2. Strain the stock through sieve and transfer the stock into another pot. Discard the prawn heads and shells. Scoop up and discard the orange “foam” forming at the top of the stock.
3. Bring the stock to boil again and add in half of the chili paste. You can add more chili paste if you like it spicier.
4. Add in the pork ribs and continue to boil in low heat for another 1-1.5 hour until the pork ribs are thoroughly cooked.
5. Add rock sugar and salt/fish sauce to taste.
6. To serve, place a portion of yellow noodles, rice vermicelli, water convolvulus and bean sprouts in a bowl. Ladle hot stock over. If desired, add a few pieces of pork ribs. Top with meat slices, sliced shrimp, egg quarters, and sprinkle with shallot crisps.
7. Serve immediately with more chili paste to taste.

Cook’s Notes:

1. Traditionally, the shrimp heads and shells are stir-fried with oil until aromatic before adding them into the boiling water. I tried this step before and found that my “shortcut” method works equally well.
2. The hawkers in Penang also blended the shrimp heads and shells after they are briefly boiled to extract all the flavors from the shell. Again, I tried this step before and found that my method works as well if you have plenty of shrimp heads and shells.