You could also use a blender, but you will need to add water and the paste will splatter a lot when being fried off in the next step. I had plenty of leftover broth and thought why not use this miraculous dreamy stuff on something else! The shrimp paste can be difficult to find and sometimes has a strong fishy flavor which, is balanced by using lime juice in the laksa soup. This hybrid cuisine blending Malaysian and Chinese food is known as Nyonya food, and laksa is one of its most famous creations.

The Nonya Sambal Chilli (Glory Brand) provided a spicy kick that beautifully complemented the richness of the coconut milk. If using dried chiles, heat water to boiling and cover the peppers for 10 minutes to revive their texture.

View image in fullscreen ‘The cook responsible for my first laksa’: Sylvia Tan uses dried shrimp, soaked first, in her noodle soup. You can also add tamarind at this point, if you’d like to make it sourer as well as saltier and sweeter, but I prefer to serve it with fresh lime on the side, not least because it’s easier.

Place coriander ( 1 tsp ground coriander), paprika ( 1/2 tsp sweet paprika), cumin ( 1/2 tsp ground cumin) and turmeric ( 1/2 tsp ground turmeric) in a small frying pan over medium heat. I refuse to tell people where I got it, so I have at least 3 dozen people that request a “Laksa Spice Ball” every two weeks. Assemble Laksa Soup and Serve : In four serving bowls, add serving of cooked noodles, ladle soup on top dividing equally. Blend until smooth, adding some of the chilli soaking water a tablespoon at a time if the ingredients aren’t blending smoothly.Roughly chop the chillies and then place them into the bowl of a food processor along with the dried shrimp. While they are steeping, chop up the rest of the Laksa paste ingredients- shallot, lemongrass, garlic, turmeric, and galanga, and place them in a food processor. Making a Laksa from scratch requires speciality ingredients such as dried shrimp, dried shrimp paste, candlenuts and galangal.

It is based on a campur- or kahwin-style laksa found in Malacca – a cross between Kuala Lumpur’s curry laksa and Penang’s fiery assam laksa. Extra protein, such as Tan’s cockles or Lee’s chicken and her spicy pork sauce, is also a possibility; a boiled egg, of course, would be the simplest option. If you’re after health food, a fishy assam laksa is probably a better bet, and seasoned according to whim: Yin, Musa and Tan all add sugar as well as salt and pepper, but taste it and see what works for you.While you can purchase pre-made, jarred laksa paste and add a pat to your coconut broth, we strongly recommend trying our homemade laksa recipe instead. Tamarind is usually sold either as a ready-made paste, or in packages with dried pulp, where you need to reconstitute it. Fine rice vermicelli noodles soak up the thick soup and is topped with shredded chicken, egg, shrimp, cucumbers and bean sprouts. With laksa, the devil is in the spicy and aromatic paste that needs to be slowly fried off for as long as possible for all its amazing flavours to develop. I find, like the dried shrimp that Sylvia Tan, the cook responsible for my first laksa, uses in her book Singapore Heritage Food, the dried chillies benefit from soaking first; it makes them easier to blend into the paste.

Add all the homemade Laksa Paste (or the 7-ounce Jar), and saute, stirring constantly until it becomes very fragrant and deep in color about 2-3 minutes. Tamarind is a sticky, fibrous, brown pod-like fruit with a pulp that is commonly used in cuisines such as Thai and Indian. You can also keep cooked shrimp, tofu, or chicken on the side- for guests- to add to their own individual bowls as they choose. Fusing together Chinese and Malay heritage, Nyonya women transformed traditional Chinese dishes with local spices and ingredients, creating a new hybrid cuisine. There seem to be as many variations … as there are stars in the sky”, thanks to the migration of the Peranakan people from China throughout the Malay archipelago.

Having said that it was really nice to see my parents, to see the city covered in snow and to have a break from cooking (courtesy of my lovely mum and a few nearby eateries offering good vegan food).