| The following is one recipe for laksa. If you've travelled through S-E-Asia,
you'll know that laksa recipes vary from country to country, and in some
countries, from State to State.
You may choose to vary this one to taste or to accomodate local ingredients.
Note however, that this recipe will feed from 12-15 people. It's very
time-consuming and I've never considered it worth the hassle unless there
*are* many mouths to feed. So I've never tried adjusting the quantities for
a smaller number of servings. Good luck. If you need any clarification, let
me know.
Laksa Lemak
===========
A: 4 stalks lemon grass, thinly sliced
40-50 dried chillies (or 5 heaped tbsp chilli paste)
6 red chillies, seeded
6 candlenuts (available at asian food-stores, they are about the same
size and shape as macadamia nuts)
30 shallots
2 large cloves garlic
B: 2 tbsp shrimp paste, dissolved in 4 fluid ozs water
2 tbsp curry powder blended with 4 fluid ozs water
4 stalks lemon grass, bruised
[10-20 lime leaves or curry leaves, optional. If using lime leaves,
they should be re-moved prior to serving. I normally omit this.]
salt to taste
C: 16 ozs fresh cockles, shelled - Place these in a large pot and pour
over boiling water. As soon as the shells open, drain off the liquid to
prevent any further cooking. Shell the cockles and set aside.
D: 32 ozs fresh grated coconut. Place in a large pot and add 8 fluid ozs
water. Place a handful or so in a piece of muslin (cheesecloth) and
squeeze to extract the "milk". Transfer the pressed coconut to a 2nd
pot and continue till finished. This first extract is often called the
"number 1 milk" in asian cook books. Set aside.
Pour 32 fluid ozs over the pressed coconut and mix. Repeat as above
to produce the "number 2 milk". Set aside.
If you don't have access to cheap fresh coconut, use the solid blocks
of coconut cream available at most supermarkets, and dissolve to the
right consistency. The powdered variety is ok too, but tinned coconut
cream is an expensive alternative.
E: 1 whole 2� lb chicken
3� litres of chicken stock
80 fish balls (don't make these, buy from asian food-stalls or you'll
be in the kitchen for ever!)
40 bean-curd cubes (the deep fried variety, again available from
asian foodstalls.)
Laksa noodles - these are made from rice flour (not wheat) and fresh
is best, but hard to come by. I sometimes substitute
with rice vermicelli.
fresh red and green chillies, sliced as a condiment/garnish
lemon wedges and mint leaves - also used as a garnish.
If you're still with me, you're ready to begin:-
Stage 1:
1.Grind all the ingredients in A: to a fine paste, heat a small amount of oil
in a pan and stir-fry for 2 minutes.
2.Add B: and continue frying till aromatic and the oils start to rise to the
surface.
3.Add � cup of number 1 coconut milk and fry for another minute.
4.Remove 2/3 of the paste from the pan and set aside.
5.Add the shelled cockles to the pan and cook over high heat till done. Set
aside.
Stage 2:
1.Bring the 3� litres of stock to the boil, and add the whole chicken. Boil for
a further 7 minutes, then turn the heat right down and simmer for 30 minutes.
2.Remove the chicken and immerse in cold water.
3.De-bone the chicken, set the meat aside and return the bones to the stock pot.
Boil for an hour.
4.Remove the bones and add the fish balls to cook. (They will float to the surface
when cooked.) Remove and set aside.
5.Add the number 2 milk, 2/3 of the reserved paste and bring back to the boil.
6.Halve the bean-curd cubes and add to the stock with the rest of the number 1
milk. Simmer till ready to serve.
Serving:
Place quantities of laksa noodles in a bowl and top with cooked cockles, shredded
chicken, fish balls, fresh chillies and mint leaves. Pour the soup/stock over
this and serve.
|
| Note that the quantities are English - also I don't know what
serai is apart from the leaf stalk is used, could it be lemon
grass (the book was published in 1964!)?
4oz bean sprouts 1lb shelled prawns
4oz vermicelli 12 dried chillis
5 candlenuts 1 dessertspoon blachan (dried shrimp
paste)
2 teaspoons salt 2 pieces serai
2 pinches saffron threads
12 small onions 2 cloves garlic
1 inch ginger 2 pints coconut milk
fresh mint or parsley oil for frying
Bake the blachan until brown. Grind chillis, saffron,
ginger, serai and onions together. Mix with blachan.
Heat the oil until smoking, add ground spices and fry 3
minutes.
Wash and clean the prawns, add to spices with a little salt.
Add coconut milk and boil 10 minutes (! some of these times
seem *very* over the top!).
Cut the vermicelli into lengths (how long?), add to boiling
water and cook til al dente, drain. Boil bean sprouts until
soft and drain.
Serve curry and vermicelli in separate dishes, garnished with
bean sprouts and mint.
I have not tried this recipe and can not vouch for its
authenticity or tastiness!!
Ian
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| This Laksa recipe comes from Woman's Day (the Australian/New Zealand
edition). It gives good results even though it uses a lot of prepared
ingredients (stock cubes, cooked prawns and coconut milk) for which you
can substite the real thing to get better results.
500g cooked medium prawns
2 tablespoons oil
1 tablespoon chopped fresh lemon grass
6 dried chillies chopped
1/4 teaspoon ground tumeric
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
2 cloves garlic
4 cups water
2 chicken stock cubes
283 ml can of coconut milk
3 cups of sliced cooked chicken
250 g rice vermicilli
1/4 cup lime juice
chopped fresh coriander, lime slices and sliced red chillies for
garnishing.
Shell prawns leaving tails intact.
Heat oil in a large pan, stir in lemon grass, dried chillies,
tumeric, ginger and garlic. Stir for 1 minute. (This is my
favourite bit - just love that smell.)
Stir in combined water and crumbled stock cubes. Bring to boil and
simmer for 10 minutes.
Stir in coconut milk, chicken and prawns.
Cook rice vermicilli in a large pan of boiling water until just
softened. (We could call this al dente, but that'd be mixing our
metaphors !) Drain well.
Place some vermicillin in the bottom of each serving bowl, top with
chicken mixture, sprinkle with lime juice, garnish with coriander,
lime slices and chillies.
Enjoy !
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