Shrimp Laksa

Another great idea from my SO.  This has to be one of my first Malaysian dishes. According to Wikipedia, it is a Chinese Malay dish, so therefore you would find various types of this in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. I had to improvise a bit since we didn't have all the usual ingredients that you would normally put in this dish. Most notable in their absence was lime, lemon grass, and rice noodles. What did I substitute? Well lemon juice mostly, although I also added Kaffir Lime Leaves as well.  As for the noodles, well I added the only thing I had which was gluten-free spaghetti. They are actually made partly from rice, but they taste like conventional spaghetti which is not ideal.

Further research revealed that there seem to be two main classes of Laksa - curry based, and tamarind based. I opted for the curry form. I don't have Tamarind on hand, maybe next time. I ended up blending about 5 recipes, since they all had either ingredients that I didn't have or found undesirable, or used overly complex methods. I didn't have carrots, fish cakes, or tofu puffs;  I didn't want macadamia nuts or mushrooms; I didn't feel like manually grinding 19 spices or simmering and de-boning a whole fish; and finally I didn't have or want ready-made curry paste. This may turn out to be Kraft Dinner for a Malay, we'll see.

Shrimp Laksa

The prep turned out to be a bit involved, but mostly because of all the ingredients. If you just used shrimp paste and curry powder it would go faster. But the actual cooking was very quick, and in the end a nice hot soup is both satisfying and fortifying.

Next Time: Make sure I'm not missing ingredients beforehand, esp. lemon grass and lime. Maybe try tofu puffs as well.

Me: 9/10
SO: 9/10
SSO: 9/10 (liked the plain shrimp and pasta - no sauce)

Shrimp Laksa
Ingredients - curry paste

• 1T veg. oil
• a couple garlic cloves
• 1T brown sugar
• 1/3 Cup evaporated milk
• 1 heaping tsp each of: coriander, turmeric, cumin, and chili powder (or chili paste or fresh chilies)
• 1 tsp ground ginger, or an inch piece of minced fresh ginger
• half a large onion or one small yellow onion, diced

Ingredients - broth

• enough noodles for 3 or 4 people
• bag of large frozen shrimp - uncooked, but could be shelled or not
• 1 can of coconut milk
• 3 C chicken or veggie stock (you could even use water I suppose, although the broth may taste thin unless you use make a killer paste and use shrimp with shells on)
• 3 T fish sauce
• 1 T soy sauce
• juice of 1 lime juice
• a few kaffir lime leaves (how many depends on size)
• 2 stalks lemon grass, bottom part with outside layer removed. Cut into pieces and crush.
• fresh cilantro for garnish
• bean sprouts for garnish

Method

1. Start heating a big pot of water for whatever noodles you have. Prepare according to the package while the broth is simmering.
2. Blend all the curry ingredients in a small food processor until smooth.
3. Heat the paste over a medium high heat, and add the rest of the broth ingredients. Simmer for at least 10 minutes.
4. Serve with the Cilantro and sprouts as a garnish.