Think of a steaming hot bowl that you desperately hold onto with your unimaginably freezing hands, which you can barely move properly due to the cold, while pulling the blanket closer around you and repositioning the hot water bottle that is starting to burn its way through your clothes.
Think of a rich and creamy soup that fills your face with hot steam that is warming up your nose and cheeks while you are trying to think of the best movie, tv-show or documentary that would complement this oh-so-perfect and just slightly spicy dinner.
Think of perfectly cooked vegetables and your favorite noodles – just stepping in here for a moment the just oh-damn-perfect noodles in this dream should be wonderful slippery and freshly cooked rice Vermicelli.. I am just making sure we are on the same page here, back to it – so thinking of freshly cooked noodles and veggies taken in by a not at all fishy tasting but incredibly creamy and slightly hot soup that will warm you up from the inside out and release all those happy emotions that make you feel so incredibly satisfied after dinner wondering through food coma wonderland.
Oh yes, I am talking about Thai Laksa!
And yes the Thai part of the dish is quite important – as far as I know – as I have had Malaysian Laksa before and the differences were enormous. But in saying that I am 100% sure that I am probably not giving the dishes the correct names as I am aware there are so many different types of Laksa out there. I am simply giving them the names according to what restaurant I was trying the different types of Laksa soups at. Please bear with me here, I have just opened the door to the world of Laksas out there and literally feel like one of those kids finding their way to Narnia.
On my part, I am definitely the biggest fan of the Thai Laksa as for my personal taste the Malaysian Laksa – from what I have tried – was too spicy and too fishy for my taste. But maybe that was just that one Malaysian restaurant who made their Laksa that way, just saying.
The Thai Laksa as I have gotten to know it at Thai restaurants around Sydney is not in any way fishy in taste and there is just a hint of spiciness that gives that extra warmth that you desperately need and crave during the winter months and that has a wonderful creaminess brought by enormous amounts of coconut milk. To be fair, the Laksa as I know and love it is probably just a mild and creamy version of laksa that has itself embedded in my brain as Thai Laksa as I have first tried that version in a Thai restaurant – if you have more knowledge about Laksa and the different versions and their right names and associations, please do let me know in the comments. Until then it is Thai Laksa for me and myself.
Forwarding time just a bit, lockdown had started here in Sydney and we decided we cannot do with laksa takeout anymore as it was just not enough. So one evening with the laksa bowl from the nearest Thai restaurant in hand, we started searching recipes on how to make laksa at home and it turns out it did not seem too difficult.
The next morning, we were on our way to our nearest Supermarket – for us that is Coles – and were looking for the ingredients. With the following we made the oh-so-perfect Laksa we were sure to have for weeks on end:
- 1 head of Broccoli
- About 2 Carrots
- Roughly 500g of Red Capsicum cut in cubes
- Thai Laksa Paste (we used the Five Tastes Mild Laksa Paste we found in Coles)
- Coconut Milk (We got a generic Canned Coconut Milk from Coles as we are not too picky with the brands here)
- Vermicelli Rice Noodles (We bought the largest pack we could find to have some extra for future Laksa)
- Some Sugar (we had that at home – you need about 1 tsp or more if desired)
- Fish Sauce (We also had that as Amro does like experimenting – you need about 2 tsp or more if desired)
- And of course water
- Optional: You can add on some shrimp or chicken, for example, as they suggest in the cooking instructions on the laksa paste glass
We went ahead and bought double quantities as we were really looking to make sure to never run out of it, at least in that week. Back home and almost ready for dinner, we then followed these easy steps to make our currently still favorite lunch and dinner dish within less than an hour:
- Boil some water to precook your veggies.
- Wash and cut the broccoli and carrots in desired shapes and sizes.
- Boil the broccoli and carrot pieces for about 10 minutes on medium to high heat and make sure they are still hard when taking them out of the pot.
- In the meantime, cut the red capsicums in desired shapes and sizes.
- Take an empty pot on your stove and pour in the whole glass of laksa paste on medium heat and cook for about 1 minute.
- Add in the fish sauce and sugar and cook for roughly 1 more minute – be aware the fish sauce is incredibly stinky, but don’t worry you won’t taste any of that in the end.
- Add in your coconut milk and water and let it come together.
- Lastly add in your veggies and cook until they are done.
- Not to forget: the rice vermicelli. As these are done incredibly quickly we usually wait until the laksa is about to be ready – cook some extra water and place the desired amount of rice vermicelli in a big bowl that allows all of the noodles to be covered in hot water. Cook the noodles according to the package instructions – for us these were two minutes and then drain thoroughly.
- Place desired amount of noodles and soup in your largest bowl and enjoy!
Easy isn’t it?! And that is exactly why we had Laksa about 2 weeks in a row – we could not stop, especially with the drop in weather and hardening of lockdown restrictions here in Sydney.
A more current update: we are unfortunately taking a small break from Laksa to not spoil our appetite for it, but be sure I am already looking forward to having my winter food dreams come true again – Laksa surely is a foodie’s winter heaven.
Zereine 