If you talk about Peranakan food, Debbie Teoh has been my go-to person for recipes. I had the opportunity to attend one of her many cooking classes before and I swear, it was one of the best cooking classes that I have attended. She shared many tips that I have been using till today. I will share her Ayam Pongteh recipe here but thats for another day.
Back to Nyonya Laksa recipe :
This is not my recipe and I have also tweaked it by adding Adam Liaw’s step of adding the prawn oil. So, I won’t be sharing the steps here because you can watch my Instagram reels on how I make my laksa broth using this recipe.
INGREDIENTS
FOR THE SPICE PASTE
8 thinly sliced lemongrass
20 dried chillies, soaked until softened
10 shallots, peeled and sliced
3 inch turmeric
2 inch galangal
10 candlenuts (buah kerns)
2 tsp shrimp (belacan)
FOR THE PRAWN OIL (Adam Liew steps)
Prawn heads and shells
Oil
Salt
FOR THE LAKSA BROTH
1/2 cup cooking oil
1 litre or more chicken stock
Prawn oil
3 cups of coconut milk
Tofu
Salt to taste
Sugar / Palm Sugar (yes, you will need this too)
INGREDIENTS FOR THE CONDIMENTS
Egg Noodles
Vermicelli
Cucumber (not in photo)
Boiled and peeled prawns
Fish cakes
Eggs
Polygonum leaves (Daun Kesum), finely sliced
Sambal (that almost killed me when I had a whiff of it)
Notes:
- Laksa broth : My take for this one will be that its a bit on the oily side. Partly my fault, as I have a habit of blending the paste with oil instead of water (This is to avoid the splashing when you are trying to fry the paste in a hot oil – you know how water and oil doesn’t go well, yes. that! ). I guess, that adds up to it being extra oily.
- Sugar : This was not in the recipe ingredients but I think you need it to balance out the taste of this Nyonya laksa. Measurement ? I am horrible at this but I started with a teaspoon and go from there (or just that a teaspoon). Please don’t over do it. This dish is not meant to be sweet.
- Salt : If you happen to come across Debbie’s recipe on Nyonya Laksa, the amount of salt given in the ingredients is not enough to season the broth. So, be generous and keep on tasting as you cook it.
- Prawn Oil : I saw Adam Liew’s Chicken-Prawn Laksa recipe and saw how he used prawn oil for his laksa broth. Does it make any difference ? I dont know. Maybe. It does add extra oil to the broth though. Will I do it again ? Yes, because I get to enjoy the prawn heads in my laksa. 😀
Overall, I think this is not a bad recipe at all except theres too much going on in making this Nyonya Laksa. Did I tell you that I almost died making the sambal ? Oh yes, its a reminder for myself to just leave it to Thermomix to avoid such situation again.
Love,
Sofia
thestolenrecipes.co 