About the dish
Laksa is a family of spicy noodle soups closely tied to Peranakan cooking, the cuisine of the descendants of Chinese settlers in the Malay Peninsula. The best known is curry laksa (laksa lemak): a prawn or chicken broth with a paste of chilli, lemongrass, galangal, candlenuts and shrimp paste, enriched with coconut milk. It is poured over yellow egg noodles or rice vermicelli and topped with prawns, chicken, sauce-soaking tofu puffs, bean sprouts and egg, then finished with laksa leaves and served with sambal. Quite different is Penang’s asam laksa – sour, based on a fish broth with tamarind and no coconut milk.
Main ingredients
- coconut milk
- noodles
- prawns
- chicken
- tofu puffs
- chilli
- lemongrass
- laksa leaves
Malaysia: Each region has its own: sour asam laksa with fish and tamarind in Penang, coconut curry laksa in Kuala Lumpur, Sarawak laksa with sambal and prawns in Kuching.
Singapore: Singapore is known for Katong laksa, with the noodles cut short so it can be eaten with just a spoon.
More: Wikipedia (en)
