First attempt at Curry Laksa... not bad at all! I think I’ll still be fiddling around with the soup measurements to get a more Peranakan taste. But I’m happy enough to share this with you in the meantime! Hope you like it!

🍜CURRY LAKSA🍜
Serves 2-3

INGREDIENTS:
SOUP

🌱2 cups vegetable stock, unsalted (you can get this by boiling vegetable scraps in a pot of water for 1-2 hours) OR 2 cups drinking water
🌱2 cups drinking water
🌱1 cup coconut cream
🌱4 tbsp curry powder
🌱1 tsp turmeric powder
🌱2 stems lemongrass
🌱2 pandan leaves tied into a knot
🌱4 kaffir lime leaves
🌱2.5cm stem of galangal
🌱1 1/2 tsp sea salt
🌱15g shaven Gula melaka or Brown Sugar
🌱2cm stem ginger
🌱4-5 cloves garlic
🌱1/2 medium onion (or 2 small onions)

NOODLES + TOPPINGS
🌱2-3 servings of noodles of choice
🌱5-6 tofu puffs (taupok), dices
🌱100g tempeh, sliced thinly
🌱100g eggplant, sliced thinly
🌱100g long beans, cut into 5cm pieces
🌱Handful of curry leaves
🌱Cooking oil
🌱1 key lime, sliced
🌱Mint leaves for garnishing

METHOD:
Pound ginger, garlic and onion with a mortar and pestle. Alternatively, process or chop finely.
Add this plus all soup ingredients to a pot and bring to the boil.
Once boiling, bring down the heat to medium-low and allow to simmer for an hour.
In a small frying pan, pour in cooking oil to create a 1/2cm layer, and heat this up until very hot.
Throw in curry leaves. They may splutter! Stand back or use an oil splitter guard. The leaves will immediately turn crispy and translucent. Remove leaves and keep aside.
In the same oil, fry tempeh slices for about 5 minutes or until golden brown, flipping the slices so that both sides get evenly fried. Remove and set aside.
Proceed to pan-fry the eggplant until and the long beans separately; the eggplant until soft, and the long beans until they just slightly soften. Add more oil to the pan if needed.
Cook noodles of choice and drain.
Place one serving of noodles into a bowl. Pour in soup, followed by toppings, mint and lime slices.
Serve immediately.

Leftover soup can be sorted in the fridge overnight and eaten with baguette slices or on its own 😜