Siamese Laksa
By Margarita Lee
Ingredients A:
- 1kg Mackerel (steamed and flaked)
- 1kg Fresh thick rice noodles or laksa noodles
- 400ml Coconut cream
- Salt to taste
- 3L Water
Blended ingredients for spice paste:
- 20 Dried chillies (soaked and deseeded)
- 10 Fresh chillies (deseeded)
- 20 Shallots
- 1 bulb Garlic
- 6 slices Galangal
- 3cm Cekur / Sand ginger
- 3cm Turmeric root
- 6 Candlenuts
- 20g Toasted belacan / Dried prawn paste
- 100ml Oil
Ingredients B:
- 3 stalks Lemongrass (white part only, smashed)
- 6 Kaffir lime leaves
- 50g Dried prawns (softened and chopped)
- 3 tbsp Coriander powder
- 3 tbsp Chopped preserved radish
Ingredients C:
- 2 stalks Pandan leaves (tie into knot)
- 1 Bunga kantan / Torch ginger
- 10 stalks Daun kesom/ Vietnamese mint
- 5 Asam keping/ Tamarind peel
- 100g Asam jawa / Tamarind pulp (dilute with 150ml water)
Garnishing:
- Cucumber (julienned)
- Pineapple (julienned)
- Big red onion (thinly sliced)
- Bunga kantan (finely sliced)
- Red chilli (thinly sliced)
- Kaffir lime leaves (finely sliced)
- Lime juice
Method:
- Clean the fish and season with salt. Steam for 10 minutes. Leave it to cool, then remove bones and flake the fish. Keep the fish stock for later use.
- Heat oil in a large pot and fry the spice paste and Ingredients B until aromatic or until oil rises to the surface.
- Add the water, fish stock and Ingredients C, then bring to a boil. Simmer for 30 minutes before adding coconut milk.
- Add the flaked fish to the pot and bring the soup to a boil, then season with salt to taste and continue to simmer for another 10 minutes.
- To serve, put rice noodles in serving bowls and garnish with cucumber, pineapple and onions. Pour in hot soup with flaked fish, then garnish with a pinch of ginger torch, kaffir lime leaves and chilli.
Note:
Some of the common names of Sand Ginger or cekur (in Malay) are Galanga, Lesser Galanga, Chinese Ginger, Finger Root, Kencur, Cutcherry and Aromatic Ginger.
Check out more of Margarita’s recipes on her FB @ Umummy Food
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