Laksa is my favourite spicy noodle soup dish and nothing beats a good soup like this during winter to warm up the body :). It's a lovely dish that is full of contrasting flavours and the soup is attractive itself! I usually go to Malaysian restaurants to eat this when I am not in the mood to labour in the kitchen.
In this noodle soup I have used laksa paste bought from my local asian grocery store. To me it works as well as the paste made from scratch. And I love very spicy dishes so I added 2 more teaspoons of grinded chilli with seeds to top it off. For the broth I used chicken stock, added in cans of coconut milk and ginger slices! I have also used store bought frozen fish balls, meat balls, quail eggs, tofu puffs to soak up the yummy flavour, sliced carrots, sliced capsicum and chicken drum sticks. To garnish it off I used coriander leaves, Vietnamese mint, bean sprouts and last and not least fried onion! It's so delicious!
To make about 8 large bowls of noodle soup you will need:
glug of vegetable oil
1 kg of chicken drumsticks (for the stock and meat)
slices of ginger
3 cans of coconut milk
2 jars of laksa paste (any will do - you can get this at the Asian grocers)
1 red capsicum sliced and halved length ways
2 carrots halved and sliced length ways
prawns
1 can of quail eggs
fish balls (cut into halves)
meat balls (cut into slices or halves)
tofu puffs (cut into halves)
juice of lemon or lime
other:
thick egg noodles
rice vermicelli noodles
the chicken from the broth
spring onions
deep fried onions
Vietnamese mint
bean sprouts
coriander leaves
Method:
In a large pot, heat oil and add in ginger slices and stir until fragrant. Next add the chicken and fry until slightly brown. Add about 2 to 3 litres of water and cover. Put on medium high and cook til chicken is cooked. Take the chicken out and set aside. Add in coconut milk and the jars of laksa paste. Add in chilli paste to give it a nice kick! Optional of course. Simmer for about 15 minutes on medium.
Next add in the sliced capsicum, carrots, fish balls, meat balls, tofu puffs, lemon juice and lastly add in the prawns and quail eggs.
While the broth is simmering, blanch white and egg noodles in boiling water and transfer half each into large noodle soup bowls. Then pour the broth over prepared noodle bowls and top with chicken drum sticks (2 or more if you want). Garnish the bowls with bean sprouts, coriander, mint and deep fried onion. Squeeze lemon or lime juice and serve immediately!
