Bob's your Uncle Laksa

Posted on the 16th of March at 04:36 pm (2009)


Apparently this recipe was first put together by Dave Swarbrick back in 1973 and featured in the classic Fairport Convention cookbook entitled "Old, New, Borrowed, Thai". Most famously it was covered by the Pogues in their 1985 collection "Rum, Sodomy and authentic Thai cooking for the Modern Kitchen", and remains popular favorite at the Cropredy Folk Cook-out.

All right, all right... I'll stop with the pointlessly obscure folk music references and get on to the actual recipe. This one was donated by my Uncle, who is as you may have guessed, named Bob. I've got no idea where he got it from, no doubt some long haired bearded druid dreamed it up while covered in mud and filled with LSD at a folk music festival and Bob just happened to be standing nearby a pen and paper. The insane babblings of this chemically altered madman seem to have been genius though, because the recipe is great.

In typical Leet Eats style, it's not enough to get Laksa paste out of a jar like most "Authentic Traditional" Thai restaurants, we have to make it from scratch for MAXIMUM Leetness!

I'm told that this recipe only works if made by a Folk Musician, Bolshevik or a Unionist... luckily one of our Leet Eats team works for the NSW Nurses Association

INGREDIENTS

Laksa Paste

Six Shallots
1 tablespoon Grated Ginger
3-4 cloves of crushed garlic
2 stalks of lemon grass
6 Dried Chilies
8 Ground Macadamia nuts
1 teaspoon of shrimp paste
1 Handful of Vietnamese Mint (or long leaf mint)
1 handful of Coriander leaves
2 Kaffir Lime leaves
1 teaspoon tumberic
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon cumin
1 Tablespoon of fish sauce
1 Lime (zest and juice)
1 teaspoon of sesame oil

Laksa Soup

100g Rice Vermicelli
300g Hokkien Noodles
10 Portions of Fried Tofu
8 Pr0ns per person (de-veined and shelled... leave the tails on)
500g Chicken breast (or thigh)
2 Liters of Chicken Stock
500ml Coconut Milk
2 Teaspoons Brown suger
1 teaspoon Salt
5 Kaffir Lime Leaves
1 cup Bean Sprouts
1 cucumber (cut into matchsticks)
Fresh Mint and Coriander and lime and Sambal to garnish


Yes, this recipe is SUPER Leet - how could it not be with that many ingredients!?!? Luckily the actual preparation isn't too difficult. The paste itself is so simple even the most baked of hippies could manage it after getting home from a Jefferson Airplane concert. Take all the ingredients, giggle at the purple elephants climbing the wall, and chop them up finely. Grab your handy food processor and blend into a paste, adding fish sauce or sesame oil if it gets too dry.

Get your noodles ready, de-vein the pr0ns and cook the chicken before you start making the soup. - you don't actually cook anything in the soup so make sure everything is pretty much ready to eat (except for the Pr0ns).

Now, turn your range hood on for the next bit... the first thing you need to do is fry the paste. Try not to let it smoke too much, because with all the chili it will have about the same effect as mustard gas! Once it's nice and browned take off your gas mask and add the chicken stock, sugar and salt. Bring the soup to the boil - this is the only time you'll boil it! Reduce the heat and add the coconut milk and kaffir lime leaves. Once it's heated up and mixed in, add the chicken, tofu and the Pr0ns. The Pr0ns will take only a minute or so to cook, so you'll want to get the bowls ready.

Add the cooked noodles to the bowls and sprinkle some beans sprouts over the top. Pour the soup over the top, making sure everyone has EXACTLY THE SAME AMOUNT OF PR0NS to avoid conflict later. Put the cucumber slices down one side, and sprinkle coriander and a bit of mint over the top. Take the lime and fish sauce to the table, you can add these to taste. If you're lucky enough to have some Sambal add it too!