Chicken Laksa

Ingredients

• 600 g boneless chicken thighs, sliced
• 250 g flat rice noodles
• 2 tins of coconut milk
• 5 shallots
• 4 garlic cloves
• 3 lemongrass stalks, tender part only
• 25 g galangal
• 5 red chillies
• 2 tsp shrimp paste
• 1 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 6 candlenuts, or macadamias
• 600 ml chicken stock
• 3 tbsp fish sauce
• juice of 2 limes
• 150 g beansprouts
• a handful of vietnamese mint or coriander

Method

1. Soak the noodles

   Soak the rice noodles in hot water until pliable, then drain and rinse in cold water. Done early, they stop soaking up the broth in the bowl and going bloated.

2. Blend the laksa paste

   Blitz the shallots, garlic, lemongrass, galangal, chillies, shrimp paste, turmeric and candlenuts into a smooth paste. The candlenuts are the thickener — they are what give laksa its particular richness beyond the coconut.

3. Fry the paste until it splits

   Cook the paste in a little oil over a medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes, until it darkens and the oil separates out around the edges. Under-fried paste tastes raw and harsh, and no amount of simmering later fixes it.

   10 min

4. Build the broth

   Add the chicken, then the coconut milk and stock, and bring to a gentle simmer until the chicken is cooked, about 12 minutes. Do not let it boil hard — coconut milk splits into oil and grain.

   12 min

5. Balance

   Season with the fish sauce and lime juice off a hard boil, and taste. It should be rich first, then salty, then sour, with the heat arriving last.

6. Assemble

   Divide the noodles between deep bowls, ladle the broth over, and top with beansprouts and herbs. Beansprouts go in raw at the very end, for the crunch against all that richness.