Malaysian recipes · Thai recipes

Easy prawn laksa

Name: Easy prawn laksa
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 1 h
Yield: Serves 4
Ingredients: 20 raw prawns with shells and heads on; 3 tbsp vegetable oil; 3 tbsp laksa paste (see below); 400ml can coconut milk; Juice of 2 limes; 1 tsp sugar; 2 tbsp Thai fish sauce (nam pla); 200g Chinese medium egg noodles; ¼ cucumber, cut into thin strips; Small bunch of fresh coriander; 2 red chillies, deseeded if you like; 2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped; 2.5cm piece ginger or galangal, roughly chopped; 4 small shallots, roughly chopped; 1 stick lemongrass, outer layer discarded, roughly chopped; 1 tbsp Thai fish sauce (nam pla); 50g ground almonds

Laksa is a spicy paste made from garlic, lemongrass, chilli and almonds. Use it to make this exciting Asian noodle soup with a real kick.

Serves4

Hands-on20 min

Oven40 min

DifficultyEasy

Method

Make the laksa paste by blitzing all the ingredients in a processor to a rough-textured paste. Set aside 3 tablespoons and keep the rest in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
Remove the heads and shells from the prawns – leave the tail-shells on. Pop the heads and shells into a pan with 750ml cold water and simmer for 30 minutes. Strain the stock into a jug, discarding the solids.
Heat the oil in a large pan or wok over a medium heat. Add the prawns and fry for 2 minutes. Add the 3 tablespoons laksa paste and fry for 2 minutes more. Add the coconut milk, lime juice, sugar, fish sauce and shellfish stock and gently simmer.
Blanch the noodles in boiling water for a few minutes, drain and divide between bowls. Top with the prawns and their soup, then garnish with the cucumber and coriander to serve.