Chicken and Shrimp Laksa
Top Chef winner Buddha Lo shares this family recipe for Chicken and Shrimp Laksa, a refreshing and brothy noodle dish popular throughout Southeast Asia. Lo's homemade laksa paste — made with fresh lemongrass, pungent shrimp paste, and nutty peanuts — forms the base of this fragrant noodle dish, while coconut cream adds a velvety mouthfeel to the aromatic broth. Top it with poached shrimp and chicken, fresh herbs, and fried shallots, and slurp with joy.
Ingreadients :
Laksa Paste
- 3 medium (1-ounce) shallots, chopped (about 3/4 cup)
- 4 medium lemongrass stalks (about 4 ounces), sliced (about 1/2 cup)
- ¼ cup canola oil
- 1 (2-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and sliced (about 1/4 cup)
- 1 (3-inch) piece fresh galangal, peeled and chopped (about 1/4 cup)
- 4 small dried red chiles
- 3 large garlic cloves, smashed
- 1 cup chicken stock, divided
- ½ cup peanuts
- 2 teaspoons dried shrimp paste (such as Shrimp & 6A Brand Belacan)
- 2 teaspoons ground turmeric
- 2 teaspoons ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon palm sugar or brown sugar
Soup
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
- 4 cups chicken stock
- 2 cups coconut cream (from 1 [15-ounce] can)
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce, plus more to taste
- 8 ounces dried rice noodles
- 2 (8-ounce) cooked boneless, skinless chicken breasts, sliced
- 8 unpeeled raw jumbo shrimp, peeled, cleaned, and poached
- 1 cup fresh bean sprouts
- 4 scallions (about 1 1/2 ounces), sliced (about 1/3 cup)
- ½ cup loosely packed fresh Vietnamese mint leaves
- ½ cup loosely packed fresh cilantro leaves
- ¼ cup fried shallots
- 1 lime, cut into 4 wedges
Step by Step :
Make the laksa paste:
-
Combine shallots, lemongrass, oil, ginger, galangal, red chiles, garlic, and 1/2 cup stock in a blender; process until mixture forms a thick, smooth paste, about 30 seconds. Add peanuts, shrimp paste, turmeric, coriander, sugar, and remaining 1/2 cup stock to blender; process until smooth, about 30 seconds.
Make the soup:
- Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium. Add laksa paste, and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, 4 to 6 minutes. Whisk in stock and coconut cream; bring to a boil over high. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer, covered, 10 minutes. Remove from heat. Whisk in fish sauce, and add more to taste, if desired.
- While stock mixture simmers, cook rice noodles according to package directions. Divide rice noodles evenly among 4 bowls. Arrange sliced chicken and poached shrimp evenly on noodles. Ladle hot stock mixture evenly into bowls. Top evenly with bean sprouts, scallions, mint, cilantro, fried shallots, and lime wedges.
