Scrumptious Prawn & Chicken Laksa, this dish is more than scrumptious, it’s actually mood altering.
Amazing flavours perfectly balanced in a soothing, creamy broth makes this soup a must for when you feel like something uplifting or comforting.
One tip I’m always banging on about is that if you are making a paste from scratch, double or triple the recipe and freeze it in portions. This basically means you have a meal from scratch ready to go when you want it next time. There is barely any extra time involved in making one or three portions but saves you a good amount of time when you have a craving but are completely unmotivated to do the prep work.
Another tip is to never leave your rice noodles to cook in boiling water. I have never been able to get a good result from this method. I prefer to place them in a bowl and pour the hot water over them to soak. They are less likely to go soggy and when they are at your preferred texture, drain them and rinse under cold water. They can sit like this for ages so do it early and they are ready to go when you are.
INGREDIENTS
Laksa Paste: Place all of these ingredients into a food processor and blitz to a fine paste
4 coriander roots, cleaned and roughly chopped
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
3 red chillies, roughly chopped (keep whole for lots of heat or deseed and remove membrane for a mild curry)
3cm ginger piece, peeled and roughly chopped
3 eschalots, peeled and roughly chopped
3 cm fresh turmeric, peeled and grated
3 Tbls brown sugar
1 lemongrass, finely chop white part only
1 Tbls fish sauce
1 lime, grated (juice of lime will be added to soup base at the end)
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1tsp ground turmeric
Soup base:
12 prawns with heads (aim for at least 4 prawns per person)
2 cups water
1 chicken breast
2 Tbls oil
400ml coconut milk – check the ingredients to ensure there are no emulsifiers in the milk as you ideally want to have a layer of cream. No problem if there are, use what you have got.
1 litre chicken stock
1 Tbls chilli jam (optional)
1 Tbls fish sauce
4 kaffir lime leaves
packet of flat rice noodles
Garnishes:
coriander leaves, roughly torn
Thai basil, roughly torn
Vietnamese mint, roughly torn
scallions, finely chopped (or very thinly slice in long lengths and place in ice cold water for 30 mins to make swirls)
capsicum and chilli, thinly sliced
3 limes, (2 cut into 4 cheeks and the rest used to balance out the final flavours)
METHOD
Paste:
Throw all the ingredients for the paste into a food processor or a tall container (coffee plunger works amazingly well) if using a stick blender. Blitz till it forms a fine paste and set aside.
Prawns:
Remove the shells and heads of the prawns, leaving the tails intact and place aside.
Devein the prawns and place in fridge till required.
In a hot pan, fry the shells and prawn heads in a tablespoon or two of oil. Fry till golden and crispy, squashing the pieces with a potato masher to get all the flavour out of them.
Add 2 cups of water and leave to simmer with the lid off for 20 mins.
Strain the prawn stock into a bowl and set aside.
Noodles:
Place noodles in a bowl large enough to hold them then pour in boiling water and leave to rehydrate. Check on them in about 10 mins and then every 5 mins till they are the texture you like. Strain and cool them under cold water to stop them cooking any further and getting soggy.
Garnishes:
Prepare all the ingredients to be ready to go onto the soup and set aside
Soup:
Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a largish pot and then place in all the paste. Cook on medium heat till fragrant, stirring often.
Open the coconut milk and scrap off the cream layer if you have it and add this to the paste, cooking for several minutes on medium to high heat before adding the rest of the can.
Pour in the prawn stock and the chicken stock.
Add the fish sauce, chilli jam and the kaffir lime leaves and let it come to a gentle simmer.
Gently place the chicken breast into the pot and leave to poach for 15 minutes. Remove when ready and then shred when cool enough to handle.
Place the prawns into the soup base and simmer for 2-3 minutes.
Add the juice of 1 lime (use the one you grated for the paste)
Serving:
This soup is traditionally on the sweet side but you still need to balance out the flavours. Taste the soup base and see if you need to add more fish sauce if you want more salt and add a good squeeze of lime to balance out the sweetness.
Don’t worry about noodles and chicken having cooled down as the heat of the soup base will warm everything up to a perfect eating temperature.
Place handfuls of noodles into each bowl, top with shredded chicken
Remove the prawns and lay them in each bowl
Ladle the soup base into each bowl
Top with your garnishes and serve immediately
- 4 coriander roots, cleaned and roughly chopped
- 3 cloves of garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
- 3 red chillies, roughly chopped (keep whole for lots of heat or deseed and remove membrane for a mild curry)
- 3cm ginger piece, peeled and roughly chopped
- 3 eschalots, peeled and roughly chopped
- 3 cm fresh turmeric, peeled and grated
- 3 Tbls brown sugar
- 1 lemongrass, finely chop white part only
- 1 Tbls fish sauce
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 12 prawns with heads (aim for at least 4 prawns per person)
- 2 cups water
- 1 chicken breast
- 2 Tbls oil
- 400ml coconut milk – check the ingredients to ensure there are no emulsifiers in the milk as you ideally want to have a layer of cream. No problem if there are, use what you have got.
- 1 litre chicken stock
- 1 Tbs fish sauce
- 4 kaffir lime leaves
- packet of flat rice noodles
- coriander leaves, roughly torn
- Thai basil, roughly torn
- scallions, finely chopped (or very thinly slice in long lengths and place in ice cold water for 30 mins to make swirls)
- capsicum and chilli, thinly sliced
- limes cut into cheeks
- Throwing all the ingredients for the paste into a food processor or a tall container (coffee plunger works amazingly well) if using a stick blender. Blitz till it forms a fine paste and set aside.
- Remove the shells and heads of the prawns, leaving the tails intact and place aside.
- Devein the prawns and place in fridge till required.
- In a hot pan, fry the shells and prawn heads in a tablespoon or two of oil. Fry till golden and crispy, squashing the pieces with a potato masher to get all the flavour out of them.
- Add 2 cups of water and leave to simmer with the lid off for 20 mins.
- Strain the prawn stock into a bowl and set aside.
- Place noodles in a bowl large enough to hold them then pour in boiling water and leave to rehydrate. Check on them in about 10 mins and then every 5 mins till they are the texture you like. Strain and cool them under cold water to stop them cooking any further and getting soggy.
- Prepare all the ingredients to be ready to go onto the soup and set aside
- Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a largish pot and then place in all the paste. Cook on medium heat till fragrant, stirring often.
- Open the coconut milk and scrap off the cream layer if you have it and add this to the paste, cooking for several minutes on medium to high heat before adding the rest of the can.
- Pour in the prawn stock and the chicken stock.
- Add the fish sauce and the kaffir lime leaves and let it come to a gentle simmer.
- Gently place the chicken breast into the pot and leave to poach for 15 minutes. Remove when ready and then shred when cool enough to handle.
- Place the prawns into the soup base and simmer for 4 minutes.
- Don’t worry about noodles and chicken having cooled down as the heat of the soup base will warm everything up to a perfect eating temperature.
- Place handfuls of noodles into each bowl, top with shredded chicken
- Remove the prawns and lay them in each bowl
- Ladle the soup base into each bowl
- Top with your garnishes and serve immediately