Cooking Home-Made Laksa

Good Laksa places in Hong Kong are very rare to find and there are only a few places to come to my mind -- Katong Laksa Prawn Mee (加東叻沙蝦麵), Grand Cafe at The Grand Hyatt, ToastBox for the Sinagpore style Laksa. I am not a chef by trade but will share with you some insights to my experimental Laksa which I thought was extremely delicious! Essential question, what is Laksa?? Laksa is a traditional dish which is a spicy soup noodle which is a combination of the Chinese & Malay culture and is commonly eaten in Singapore, Malaysia & Indonesia. The term "laksa" is used generally to describe the two different basic types of noodle soup which is mainly curry laksa and asam laksa. Curry laksa is a coconut curry soup with noodles and Asam Laksa is a sour fish soup with noodles. On regular circumstances, thick noodles known as laksa are commonly preferred although vericelli is also commonly used. On a lazy Sunday evening, missus & I decided to cook up our own Laksa and see whether we can actually do so as Chefs say that the hardest part about Laksa is the broth. Off to the wet market we went to Causeway Bay to search for the fresh local produce and to cook up a traditional Laksa, one will require below ingredients: Ingredients for Our Home-Made Laksa Broth: *Fresh Chilli, Lemon Grass, Turmeric, Shallots, Thai Ginger, Fresh Garlic, Mint Leaves, Chicken Stock, Coconut Milk, Dried Shrimp Paste & Chilli Paste, Peanut Oil (I used Olive Oil), dried prawns Ingredients for Our Home-Made Laksa: *Bean Curd, Bean Sprouts, Fresh Prawns, Fish Cake, Laksa Noodles (Thick Noodles) Traditionally, there should also be a boiled egg, squid, fresh clams but to trim the cost down, above should be enough to get you started. The whole preparation of the meal lasted around 45 minutes and a lot of people asked me about MY SECRET INGREDIENT which I will now disclose is the usage of the PRAWN HEADS & SHELLS for the broth base. When you buy the prawns from the wet-market, wash it, gut it then separate the head from its body whereby it will be used to flavour the broth. The Prawn Heads give the broth an extremely aromatic flavour and believe me, do try this method for your own Laksa. Note to remove the Heads & Shells from the broth as the shells will become tough and very un-juicy for eating. When serving up the Laksa, remember to be generous on the final top-up of the Chilli Paste that will give the bowl of noodles an extra kick! Best paired with an ice-cold pint of Beer!

For those that are Laksa Fans, do try this at home and believe me that if you use all of my above ingredients you can also cook up the perfect Laksa. Bon appetit and enjoy!

Happy Eating!

Geoff