Curry Mee (Laksa)

There are many recipes for curry laksa, and I have a few versions in my blog too. Nevertheless, there's no harm for another good one.

This Curry Laksa recipe has a distinctive curry taste, with the additional, coriander, cumin and aniseed in the spice paste. The spice paste can be made in advance and stored in an airtight container for a week.


*This is an updated post with a video cooking guide. (Previously posted on 04/29/14)



Curry Mee (Laksa)

Ingredients

1 lb Peeled Shrimps
2 Packs (2 x 90 g) Tofu Puffs, halved
Some Cooked Fried Fish Cakes or Fish Balls
120 g Dried Yellow Noodles, cooked or Fresh Yellow Noodles, scalded
250 g Rice Vermicelli, cooked and drained
300 g Bean Sprouts, scalded
120 g Long Beans, cut into 1 inch in length, cooked and drained
8 Hard boiled Eggs, halved
Some Kalamansi
6 to 8 Cups Chicken Broth
2 Cups Coconut Milk
4 Pandanus/Pandan Leaves, knotted
¼ Cup Fresh Curry Leaves
1/3 Cup Peanut or Vegetable Oil
Sugar, to taste
Sea Salt to taste

Spice Paste
70 g Dried Chilies, cut into ½ inch in length and soaked in hot water, drained
4 Stalks Lemongrass, chopped
4 Fresh Red Chilies, seeded and coarsely chopped
25 g Fresh Turmeric, coarsely chopped
50 g Galangal, coarsely chopped
300 g Shallots, peeled and coarsely chopped
4 Cloves Garlic, peeled and chopped
3 tsp Roasted Shrimp Paste (Belachan)
10 Candlenuts
3 Tbsp Ground Coriander
1 Tbsp Ground Cumin
½ tsp Ground Aniseed
1 tsp Ground Black Pepper

Method

For the soup base: Grind the fresh ingredients and candlenut until fine paste. Then mix in the dried spice paste until well blended. 

In a large stockpot over low heat, add the oil and cook the spice paste until fragrant, stirring continuously. Then mix in the curry and Pandan leaf. Continue to stir the paste for another 5 minute and season with some sugar and sea salt.

Remove half of the spice paste and set it aside. Toss in the shrimps. Stir and cook until the shrimp are pink and opaque.

In a stockpot, add the remainder samba paste. Give it a stir and mix the curry and panda leaf, mix well.

Pour in the chicken broth and coconut milk into the spice paste mixture. Bring the mixture to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for about 25 to 30 minutes.

Then add the tofu puffs and let it cook for another 2 – 3 minutes. Season the soup with sugar and sea salt.

To serve, place some noodles and rice vermicelli into a large bowl. Then top it with some bean sprouts, long beans, eggs, shrimps and fish balls, if using. Then ladle the hot soup with a few tofu puffs onto the bowl and serve with some Kalamansi limes, if desired.

Serves 8