This week’s Laksa Ramen recipe is not a traditional Laksa, just an interpreted version that blends countries that have inspired part of the Respect the Technique team during their career. This recipe may be long, but the result is the same as they would make it!
Laksa Ramen
Yields: This Recipe yields about 4+ Liters of Soup. You can divide that in half or have a Laksa Party and invite some friends. Drink some Pabst or another refreshing beer.
Ingredients:
For the Laksa Paste:
– Thai Chilies – 4 pc or more if you are in to spicy foods!
– 20g ginger
– 50g garlic
– 50g galangal
– 4/5 stalks of lemongrass
– 100g shallots
– 100g white onion
– 1 bunch cilantro stems
– 15g turmeric
– 5g paprika
– 15g ground cumin
– 10g ground coriander
– 40g brown/palm sugar
– 20-30g Shrimp paste (Shrimp paste is the drier one with a pungent smell. Add 20g for deep umami. Add 30g for a train of flavour to the face!)
– 70g fried shrimp paste (Fried Shrimp paste is the Filipino one in a jar typically)
– 20g soy sauce
– 50g fish sauce
– 50g of lime juice (or juice of 2-3 limes)
– prawn oil
– 150g canola oil
– 24 shrimp shells (add heads too)
Other ingredients:
– 1kg pork shoulder
– 300g tomatoes
– 2 cans of coconut milk
– 1L pork stock
For garnishes:
– Ramen Noodles
– Bean Sprouts
– Thai Basil
– Mint
– Fish Balls
– Pork Balls
– Tofu Peel
– Fried Shallots
– Green Onions
– Fresh Limes
– The Shrimp you peeled for this recipe
– Fried or Boiled Egg
– Rayu Chili Oil -Recipe coming Soon!
– Whatever else seems dope!
Searching for ingredients? If you’re in the Calgary area these stores should have it all for a one stop shop: Lucky Supermarket or T and T Supermarket
Directions:
Lets start with the Laksa Paste:
1. Mise en Place. Get your sh*t together. Cut up the ginger, shallots, galangal, onion, cilantro stems, spices, all that. For the lemongrass, trim off the hard root and slice up just the whiter section and reserve the rest of the stalks for later. Bundle them up and you can tie it to remove it from the broth easier. we’ll get to that part in a second…
2. Add all them Ingredients to a blender and blitz it until its a sexy paste! Not the bundled up stalks though, hold on to it and you can add that in a little bit. Slow down you speedy fox!
3. Place the paste into a bowl or vessel of some sort so we can make the oil to fry this bad boy/girl/whatever you name it in (we don’t discriminate here)
Lets make the Shrimp Oil:
1. Get the cooking vessel with a heavy bottom like B.I.G. and heat up the Oil Slightly
2. With great care, pop those prawn shells in the oil. REMEMBER THAT OIL DOES NOT LIKE WATER, ESPECIALLY WHEN ITS HOT YOU COULD GET AN OWIE!
3. Smell the prawns wafting in the air and admire the memories of eating shrimps in the summer, and watch the shells as you reminisce and ask questions like, what is a prawn and what is a shrimp? What is the difference?
4. You are extracting the oils from the shrimp shells and getting more of that toasty fragrance from it. Once the shells are browning, Strain the oil into your Laksa cooking pot, or reserve for other delicious recipes if you’re just making the shrimp oil.
Lets make the Broth:
1. With your newly created Prawn Oil, heat it up in that heavy bottom pot (preferably) and fry that Laksa paste you just poured your blood sweat and tears into. Be sure that it sizzles to properly “toast” the spices and release the aromatics in your paste. Please be sure to not actually put blood, sweat, or tears into your paste, your guests, if they find out, may not be too fond of that.
2. Once the Paste is fried up and deepens in color and your kitchen smells a bit more like shrimp and spice, add in the tomatoes and cook it down. The tomatoes add more red coloring to your oils and umami to the broth.
3. Once the tomatoes have been cooked down to a soft mushy mess, add in the coconut milk, and then the pork stock.
4. Simmer this goodness for 45 minutes
5. Strain into your Instapot or another pot. This removes the more fiberous parts of the lemongrass, ginger, and galangal. If you don’t mind it or you’ve already put in too much work to putting together everything else, feel free to leave it in and add in the pork. You’ve been warned!
6. Add in the pork to braise for 40 minutes with the Instapot or pressure cooker, or simmer the pork in a regular old pot for about 2-4 hours or until tender. Skim some of the excess fat off the top, but hang on to it, that’s additional flavor and aroma.
7. Here is when you put on the chef hat and season to taste. Use fish sauce, fried shrimp paste, salt, black pepper, brown sugar and water. If its too salty add the water. Not enough umami, add the fried shrimp paste and or fish sauce. Not salty enough, add the salt. Use a nice sea salt for the best results. And sugar for sweetness. Not every ingredient is the same each time you use it. Spicier onions and ginger or old spices, maybe the heat was higher and more water evaporated causing your soup to be more condensed. Summon your inner chef to produce the Laksa you want to eat. Balance the flavors to make it right for you.
Assembly
1. Ok, you’re still with me. Let’s start everyone’s favorite part of cooking for the ‘gram, the plate up.
2. Get the water boiling to cook your ramen noodles. Make sure the water is boiling, this ensures the ramen noodles are cooked and still retain its nice bouncy texture.
3. Add your fish balls or pork balls or spam or whatever it is you want that needs some more cookin’ into the Laksa Broth.
4. Add your broth to the bowl first before adding in the ramen noodles. Get that nice Instagram worthy noodle pull and gently lay it back down. This stops the noodles from sticking together by separating the noodles with the Broth.
5. Place all your garnishes of choice on top and serve it hot! Yell for service if you feel the need for it!
6. Slurp those noodles loud and proud. Really! The slurping actually allows airflow to cool the noodles down and send more aroma through the nose for more flavor! SCIENCE BRO!
Final Notes:
If you pop it in the fridge to enjoy another day, the flavors will change a bit and not in a bad way. Certain ingredients will take the lead and hit you from another angle. You can also freeze the broth for another time.