Ingredients

  • Spice Paste
  • 1 ½ teaspoons shrimp paste blacan
  • 2 thick lemon grass
  • 1 ½ tablespoons galangal
  • 1 tablespoon ginger root
  • 1 teaspoon turmeric
  • 1 medium onion chopped
  • 6 chiles, serranos chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic chopped
  • 5 macadamia nuts
  • 2 tablespoons water
  • Soup
  • 6 fried bean-curd puffs
  • 2 chicken breast
  • 830 milliliters chicken stock
  • 170 grams bean sprouts
  • 85 milliliters vegetable oil
  • 390 milliliters coconut milk, unsweetened
  • 1 tablespoon sugar, caster
  • 225 grams shrimp shell and devein
  • 350 grams rice noodles round
  • Garnish
  • cilantro

Directions

1. Spice Paste: Preheat oven to 300*F/150*C/GM 2
2. Wrap blacan tightly in a piece of foil and roast in middle of oven 10 minutes. Unwrap and cool. Discard tough outer leaves of lemongrass and trim root ends. Thinly slice lower 6 inches of stalks. Fold upper stalks into thirds and tie into a bundle with kitchen string. In 2 batches, purée blacan, sliced lemongrass and remaining spice paste ingredients in a mini hand blender until almost smooth.
3. Noodle Soup: Soak bean-curd puffs in hot water in a bowl, weighted with another bowl of water to keep puffs immersed, 20 minutes. Squeeze as much water as possible from puffs and halve diagonally. While puffs soak, simmer chicken in stock in a saucepan, turning occasionally, until just cooked through, 12 to 15 minutes, and cool chicken in a bowl. Pour stock through a fine sieve into another bowl. Discard chicken skin and bones and shred or slice chicken. Blanch bean sprouts in a pot of boiling water 15 seconds, refresh and drain well.
4. Heat oil in a large pot over moderate heat until hot and stir in spice paste. Paste should sizzle when added. Cook, stirring constantly, until spice paste begins to stick to bottom of pot, 8-10 minutes. Oil will separate out, and mixture will appear curdled. Paste will reduce and turn a shade darker: do not let brown. Add coconut milk, sugar, stock and lemongrass bundle and bring to a simmer, stirring. Stir in puffs and gently simmer 20 minutes. Stir in shrimp and simmer until just cooked through, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in chicken and salt to taste.
5. While laksa simmers, bring a large pot of water to a boil for noodles. Rinse so noodles don't stick. Divide noodles, bean sprouts, shrimp, chicken and puffs among 4 deep bowls and ladle laksa broth over. Garnish with cilantro.
6. Note:Blacan, also spelled belacan or blacang, is an essential shrimp paste. When buying it, it should be a little soft, not brick-hard. The outside darkens with age.
7. Lemongrass is best the thicker the stalk and firm.

Notes
Notes:Original serves 4 with total time of 2 hours.


Categories
Chicken, hotShellfish, main coursesoups
Keywords
Chicken, main coursesoups, hotShellfish
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