Singapore Laksa Recipe

5 from 3 votes

This Singapore laksa recipe is the rich coconut curry noodle soup from Singapore and Malaysia that has become a classic Southeast Asian noodle soup dish. A good curry laksa is not made from a jar of paste. The curry paste is made from scratch in a mortar and pestle.

Adapted (with permission) from Christine Manfield's original recipe.

Prep Time1

Cook Time30

Total Time1 30

Course: Noodle Soup

Cuisine: Singaporean

Servings: Servings

Calories: 587kcal

Author: Terence Carter

Equipment

Ingredients

Laksa Paste Mix

60 g red shallots finely chopped
4 g fresh bird’s eye chillis
20 g garlic sliced finely
10 g long dried chillis deseeded & soaked
25 g candlenuts can be substituted with macadamia nuts
15 g lemongrass white part, sliced finely
10 g galangal finely chopped
10 g fresh turmeric finely chopped

Shrimp Paste Mix

20 g belachan shrimp paste, roasted*
5 g turmeric powder
5 g coriander powder
30 g dried shrimp soaked until soft

Laksa

500 ml coconut milk
750 ml chicken stock
60 ml vegetable oil
12 pieces tofu puffs fried
1 tbsp fish sauce or to taste
12 large uncooked king prawns peeled, tails intact, deveined and butterflied
1 tbsp lime juice or to taste
100 g fresh thin rice noodles
200 g Hokkien noodles
100 g bean sprouts blanched

Garnish

Fried shallots
Bird’s eye chillis thinly sliced
Coriander cilantro
Vietnamese mint laksa leaves
Lime wedges

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Using a mortar and pestle, blend the three sets of ingredients; the laksa paste mix, shrimp paste mix and dried shrimp separately. Blend together in a small bowl.
To make the soup, heat the vegetable oil in a large wok or heavy pan over medium heat. Add 1/4 of the final laksa paste (roughly 80 g), lower the heat and stir until fragrant, about 3–4 minutes.
Add the coconut milk, bring to the boil and then down to a simmer for around 10 minutes to infuse the flavours.
Add the chicken stock and let simmer for 10 minutes. Check the seasoning and add the fish sauce and lime juice to taste.
Cook the noodles per instructions.
Add the noodles evenly between the bowls. Divide most of the bean sprouts evenly between the bowls.
Add the tofu to the soup. Add prawns and simmer until just cooked through.
Ladle soup and prawns evenly over the bowls.
Scatter the rest of the bean sprouts, a little coriander, mint and sliced chilli.

Nutrition