Singapore Laksa: Spicy Rice Noodle Soup with Chicken and Shrimp

1. You could argue forever about which ingredients belong in a soup and which do not. Almost no common dish has an “exact” recipe, and there are usually many variations. Despite the long list of ingredients, laksa is not hard to cook. The must-haves are coconut milk, the spice paste and rice noodles. The herbs, vegetables, mushrooms, and the meat, poultry or fish are up to you.

   

2. Buy fairly thick rice noodles. They look like almost translucent, matte-white pasta, similar to tagliatelle but 2.5-3 mm wide. When cooked, such noodles hardly swell and hold their shape. Recipes often use rice “pasta” like spaghetti or thin threads instead.

   

Making the stock for laksa

1. Pour 1.5 l of water into a pot and put it on the heat. While the water warms up, peel a carrot, an onion and a 4-5 cm piece of ginger. If you have soup roots such as parsley, celery or parsnip, you can use them in the stock too. Cut the carrot, ginger and roots into large cubes or sticks, and score the onion crosswise. Put the peeled vegetables into the water. Simmer the stock gently, covered, for 35-40 mins. When it is done, discard the vegetables and strain the stock. Note that this vegetable stock is made without salt or spices.

   

Preparing the ingredients

1. While the vegetable stock is cooking, prepare all the other ingredients. Laksa is cooked a bit unusually: all the prepared components go into a deep bowl and the hot liquid is poured over them, rather than everything being cooked in the stock. So everything must be ready by the time you serve.

   

2. First, boil the eggs. The white should set and the yolk should be almost set. Boil the eggs for about 5 mins, then cool them under running water and peel carefully. Thaw the large shrimp. Pour boiling water over them from a kettle and after a few minutes peel off the shells, leaving only the tail meat with the tail fin.

   

3. Wash a few button mushrooms and cut them into slices. Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a saucepan and fry the mushrooms over high heat until browned. They should fry rather than lose their moisture. Put the mushrooms, peeled shrimp and halved eggs into separate bowls. They are ready for serving the soup.

   

4. Wash a small chicken fillet and remove any bones, fat and membranes. It is easy to pound the fillet with the back of a knife. The goal is not to make the meat thinner but to give it an even thickness all over, so that it fries evenly. Fry the chicken fillet on a grill or in a grill pan until half done, turning it from time to time, like a chicken chop. 8-10 mins is enough for a golden crust to start forming.

   

5. Move the fried fillet to a saucepan and pour in 2-3 ladles of vegetable stock. Put the saucepan on the heat and braise the fillet, covered, over low heat for 25-30 mins. Take the finished fillet out of the stock and let it cool a little in the air. You can pour the remaining liquid back into the stock. With a very sharp knife, cut the fillet into strips 5-6 mm wide, on the bias, across the grain. Try to keep the strips intact.

6. Laksa is generously seasoned with fresh herbs, which is both tasty and pleasing to the eye. Fresh cilantro and mint suit the dish best. Do not chop the mint, just add a small sprig to the soup. Roughly chop the cilantro with a knife, tearing off the coarse parts of the stems and using only the leaves and the upper part of the stem. Finely slice the green onion, using only the green part. Put all the chopped herbs into separate small bowls.

   

7. Peel the small green cucumbers and cut them into sticks lengthwise. Cut the hot chilli into wide rings, seeds included, across the pod. A chilli with its seeds is quite fiery, so be careful. Cut one lime into quarters or wedges for serving.

Laksa paste

1. Sachets of ready-made laksa spice paste are sold in stores. One sachet is enough for 3-4 bowls of soup. If you like, it is not hard to make the paste yourself. But as I understand it, even in the dish’s home regions few people make the paste from scratch. At first glance the paste may look very hot, because of its color. In fact it is very aromatic, but the heat is moderate, even mild, and you feel it in the aftertaste.

   

2. Heat 2 tbsp of olive oil in a pot. Lightly fry the laksa paste for 1-2 mins. Add 2-3 ladles of stock. Then, stirring constantly, pour in the coconut milk. Shake the can of coconut milk well before opening, since it tends to settle and separate. Add all the remaining vegetable stock to the pot. The total volume of liquid in the pot should be about 2 l.

   

3. Next, salt the stock lightly and add the lime juice. The stock should taste distinctly sour. Squeeze in the juice of the whole remaining lime. Bring the stock to a boil.

   

4. Add the rice noodles to the boiling, seasoned stock. Cook them over low heat until done. The package tells you how long they need to be fully cooked, usually 5-6 mins. Taste the noodles and you may want to cook them a little longer. That completes the liquid part of the laksa.

   

Serving the soup

1. Laksa is usually served in a large, deep bowl with high sides. Put the rice noodles in the center of the bowl. A toothed spaghetti spoon makes this easy. Take all the noodles out of the soup so that only liquid is left.

   

2. Around the edge of the bowl, on top of the noodles, arrange the fried mushrooms, three peeled shrimp per serving and the sliced chicken fillet. Add half a boiled egg, yolk up.

   

3. On top, pile the chopped cilantro and a little green onion. Add the cucumber sticks and a sprig of mint. Scatter hot chilli rings around the edge and add the lime wedges. The soup is now assembled and the laksa is ready to serve.

   

4. All that is left is to pour the hot vegetable stock with the spice paste and coconut milk over everything. It is best done right at the table. Bring the bowls to the table with the vegetables, rice noodles, chicken and the rest arranged in them. Put the stock in a tureen on the side and ladle it straight into each bowl.

   

5. Laksa is a spicy soup with a light heat. To serve, you can prepare herbs wrapped in lavash, or plain flatbread. If you like, add fresh or pickled hot chilli and extra lime wedges. The soup is traditionally eaten with chopsticks, and the broth with a spoon.