Okay, let us introduce you to one of the yummiest soups ever that we find is so underrated: Laksa! It's a coconut curry soup that's widely popular in Southeast Asia, especially Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. While this soup is super popular in that part of the world, here where we live in Canada, a lot of people are missing out on this yummy goodness!
The soup itself is slightly thick and creamy with a delicious coconut-y flavour and you eat that traditionally with some rice noodles (although we also love to eat it with udon noodles). It's a very rich, very comforting soup that should definitely get more recognition! It gives us that same, comforting feeling as whenever we eat some homemade Chicken Rice Porridge. We also like to add toppings like coriander, sliced onions, lime juice, and one of the most important ones: fried shallots! If you're Southeast Asian, you know we put that on everything!
Moving on to the recipe itself, you are gonna get kinda intimidated by the list of ingredients. It's a bit long and some items are a bit exotic. But believe me, it's worth all the hassle because they are what makes this soup so flavourful and fragrant! And although it looks complicated to make, this soup only took us 20-30 minutes to make.
As for the carbs in the soup, it's totally your call! As we said earlier, traditionally it's eaten with rice noodles or vermicelli noodles. But when we're feeling kinda rebellious, we'd eat it with udon noodles (which is super delicious!) or even rice! So if you think a specific type of noodle would go well in this soup, then you do you!
This Chicken Laksa (Coconut Curry Soup) is a favourite in our household. It's packed with Southeast Asian flavours that do sometimes remind me of my childhood in Indonesia. That's it for today's recipe friends, feel free to leave a comment if you do have any questions or suggestions, and as usual, happy eating!
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp coriander seeds
- 1/2 tsp black pepper corn
- 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
- 2 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp clove powder
- 1 lemongrass stalk
- 3 kaffir lime leaves
- 2 garlic cloves finely chopped
- 3 cups chicken broth
- 1 1/2 cups coconut milk about 400 ml
- 3 tbsp laksa paste
- 200 grams boneless skinless chicken breast
- 15 medium-sized shrimps
- 450 grams wide rice noodles
- 1 tbsp canola oil
- coriander leaves for toppings
- lime wedges for toppings
- fried shallots for toppings
- sliced onions for toppings
Instructions
- Toast the coriander seeds over medium high heat until fragrant. Transfer to a mortar along with black pepper corn, cumin seeds, turmeric powder, and clove powder. Grind using a pestle until the mixture is smooth and uniform.
- Add canola oil into a large pot and heat over medium heat. Cook garlic until fragrant and tender, then add the grinder spice mix and laksa paste and mix well.
- Add in the chicken broth and coconut milk, and stir until well combined. Put in the lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves. Let simmer over medium heat for 10 minutes.
- In a separate pot, cook the noodles in boiling water according to packaging instructions. Once cooked, drain off excess water and set aside.
- In a separate pot, cook the chicken breast in boiling water for about 10 minutes, or until fully cooked. Remove from heat and let cool. Once the chicken is cooled, shred the chicken into thin strips and set aside.
- Add the shrimps skin-on into the laksa soup and let cook for about 5 minutes until the shrimps are fully cooked.
- To serve, place noodle in a bowl and pour soup over the noodles to fill up the bowl. Add the shredded chicken, coriander leaves, lime, fried shallots, and onions as toppings.
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