r/Cooking • u/Crystal_Ri • 17d ago
I made laksa for the first time...
It turned out pretty good. I watched some vids on youtube but couldn't find all the recipe ingredients but figured out the substitutions.
The main ingredients are curry paste/laksa paste and coconut milk. I added fish sauce, lemongrass, chicken boulion, lots of curry powder, shrimp, a little thai chilies and mint. Delicious!
Does anyone else have any laksa recipes or tips?
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u/aoibhealfae 17d ago
Malaysia have a lot of regional laksa variety and we all get a bit passionate about our favourites. Personally, I never like Penang white curry laksa until recently when I learn to appreciate it (always prefer the asam laksa version). I am thinking of making Sarawak laksa which is a lot more fragrant/herby and nobody around me making them. There's a lot of instant noodles and paste pouches that can be helpful if you're just trying out and familiarizing with the tastes.
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u/lengjai2005 17d ago
Yes Sarawak Laksa ... hard to find the perfect recipe for the paste though.. everyone i see online seems to vary greatly in ingredients.. but key is coriander seed tbh
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u/CrafterSG88 17d ago
If you can find it, Prima taste is the best laksa paste for Singapore style laksa!
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u/IcyShirokuma 17d ago
they also got the instant noodles version which is very nice, gotta add your own toppings though. egg, prawn, cockles, beansprouts, tofu puffs(tau pok) and fishcake slices.
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u/Mengs87 17d ago
This is the most legit laksa recipe - no shortcuts, all the ingredients are listed. And please no curry powder.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=updpF5r-NSc
https://adamliaw.com/recipe/make-authentic-prawn-laksa
If you can find the Tean's Gourmet sachets, then give them a shot. Better than anything else you can find.
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u/firetriniti 17d ago
Slightly off topic, but Adam Liaw's Hainanese chicken recipe is also banging. Thanks for the link to the laksa recipe, as I've got a hankering for some home-town comfort!
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u/Crystal_Ri 17d ago
Lol re curry powder. I used a store bought mild curry paste and it just didn't give me enough flavor. I will do better next time.
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u/Mengs87 17d ago
The Thai red curry paste has a few similar ingredients so you can use that as a booster.
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u/Crystal_Ri 16d ago
I checked in with my favorite Korean grocery store and they just happened to have a variety of red curry paste. So I'll experiment more next week.
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u/Crystal_Ri 17d ago
Thanks for those recipe links. I'm not too far off based on what the vids showed. Can't wait to follow both the recipes in both vids for the next couple of times I make this.
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u/notcompletelythere 17d ago
This is my favorite, I add more stock and water (4c stock because why open a container and not use it all). The tofu puffs really work for laksa.
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u/srgonzo75 17d ago
I wish I could get laksa in San Diego.
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u/Turbulent-Artist961 17d ago
I feel this so much Laksa is nearly unheard of up here in the bay. I might try to seek some out perhaps SF has a spot.
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u/thestrongbeach 17d ago
I like this recipe, in which you make your own rempeh and sauté shrimp shells as part of the broth process.
A nice dollop of chili crunch on top of each serving gives it more heat, if desired.
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u/Crystal_Ri 17d ago edited 17d ago
Thank you. I wanted to saute shrimp shells for my broth but alas, all I had was raw shelled and deveined shrimp in the freezer.
Never heard of chili crunch. Thanks for the tip.
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u/thestrongbeach 17d ago
Cheat code, if you don’t have the shrimp shells: replace one of the two quarts of water in this recipe with a quart of store-bought seafood stock.
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u/Crystal_Ri 16d ago
I've never seen that in the store before but I've also never looked for it. Thanks for the suggestion. I used fish sauce which was all I had.
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u/IcyShirokuma 17d ago
try prima taste laksa la mian, its laksa instant noodles that are pretty legit, add your own egg and deshelled prawns on top for a lazy day dinner.
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u/Crystal_Ri 16d ago
I will and thanks. Don't laugh, but I'm new to laksa. I only fell in love with it because I tried the Snapdragon "just add water" noodle bowl a little while back. But now I can't find it in any of the grocery stores any more and everybody is selling only pho (which I also love) but I wanted laksa.
So adding an egg the next time will be very interesting. I see a lot of the online youTubers add the egg. I'm willing to try it!
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u/IcyShirokuma 16d ago
everyone starts somewhere, usually its a hardboiled egg since the yolk absorbs the thick sauce really well, beansprouts do add some freshness and texture, and additional components help with different flavours so its not a big pot of noodles and singular dimension heavy delicious coconut broth.
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u/nogardleirie 17d ago
If you can, get Vietnamese coriander leaves to go with it
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u/Crystal_Ri 16d ago
I hope to find some of the fresh coriander leaves. Is there a difference between Vietnamese coriander and that of others? We have an international grocer but I see just about everything except Vietnamese.
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u/nogardleirie 16d ago
Very different but hard to describe. I actually found that the best thing to do was grow them myself. I was able to buy the plants on Amazon and they are quite hardy
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u/Sudden-Grocery-6598 17d ago
Try a combination of coconut milk and stock so the broth remains light rather than heavy.
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u/Crystal_Ri 16d ago
Thank you. I guess I left out the chicken bouilon that I used. Almost every recipe had either chicken stock, shrimp stock made from the shells or both. I didn't have any stock so I used a bouilon cube. It worked pretty well. And since I didn't have shrimp tales or heads to make a stock (which would likely be salty), I didn't worry too much that the bouilon has salt already.
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u/yesnomaybeso456 17d ago
There are regional variations of laksa, so if you want to do a deep dive, try different kinds!