It can be a bit tricky sometimes, food blogging.
During a particularly lovely bout of daydreaming about exotic places last week, I had an idea – Laksa!
I quickly researched traditional ingredients, brainstormed some changes, told my Lovebug to get his belly ready, skipped to the shops and back, and whipped up a pot with excitement.
Only… the finished product was lacking.
Oh it was okay – Food Hall standard – but life’s too short for just okay food, right? Forget those bland soups and crappy noodles – we want awesome, fresh food that makes us feel nourished and happy to be alive! Sing it with me, sista!
The next morning dawned sunny and bright and I knew what I had to do. Thankfully, when my Lovebug asked: ‘What do you want to do today?” and I replied: “Make Laksa!”, he just laughed and went along with it. He’s pretty awesome like that.
The second time (and night in a row!), the Laksa was magical. Hot, spicy, sweet, tangy and oh so satisfying.
And the best part? You can freeze the spice paste and then next time you fancy a delicious, exotic, daydream-worthy soup, you can just take the paste from the freezer, throw it into a big pot, add the rest of the ingredients, and have dinner ready in less than 15 minutes.
Take that, Food Hall. 🙂
xx
Easy Vegan Laksa
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp Coconut Oil
- 2 tbsp Sesame Oil or more Coconut Oil
- 4 cups Vegetable Stock/Broth
- 3 1/4 cups Organic Coconut Milk
- 1 tsp Tamarind Concentrate/Paste
- 50 ml Tamari Sauce or Soy Sauce if gluten is not an issue
- 50 ml Fresh Lime Juice
- 2 cups Capsicum/Peppers any colour, cored and sliced
- 1 cup Baby Corn quartered (or any other Asian veg you prefer)
- 5 Spring Onion sliced
- 300 g Firm/Hard Tofu drained and chopped into bite-sized cubes
- 200 g Rice Noodles any kind you like
Spice Paste
- 6 Garlic Cloves peeled and chopped
- 1 inch/2.5cm knob Ginger peeled and chopped
- 4 Red Chillies chopped (less if you don't like spicy food but the coconut milk really tames down the spiciness)
- 2 Lemongrass stems white part only, thinly sliced
- 1 tsp ground Turmeric
- 5 Kaffir Lime Leaves finely shredded (from a jar is fine if you can't find fresh)
To Serve
- 1 handful of Bean Sprouts
- 1 handful of fresh Coriander Leaves chopped
Instructions
- Soak noodles in a large bowl of hot water for 30 minutes to soften.
- Meanwhile, assemble all Spice Paste ingredients in a food processor and pulse/process until it forms a chunky paste.
- In a frypan over medium-high heat, shallow fry tofu in 2 tbsp Coconut Oil until just golden brown. (Don't let it cook for too long or the tofu will become too chewy. This step is optional - you can add the tofu directly to the Laksa later if you prefer but pre-cooking does give the tofu a lovely texture)
- In a large pot or frypan over medium heat, stir fry Spice Paste in Sesame Oil until fragrant (a couple of minutes).
- Add Coconut Milk and Vegetable Stock and bring to the boil.
- Add Capsicum/Peppers, Corn, Spring Onion, Tofu and allow to simmer for 5 minutes.
- Add Tamarind, Tamari and Lime Juice. Allow to simmer for another couple of minutes, then remove from heat.
- Drain noodles and divide among 4 bowls.
- Spoon Laksa over the noodles, garnish with Bean Shoots and Coriander, and enjoy!
Yay! Another recipe from you! And my favourite Thai curry too! Laksaaaaaaa! YUM! I actually have most of the ingredients apart from tofu and tamarind sauce but gonna make it anyway tonight 🙂
Thank you Bex!
OH MY GOSH! So I made this for supper and it is effing LLLLLLLUUUSSSSHHHH!!!!! XD So divine and I didnt have lemongrass like I thought I did but it tasted amazing anyway. Think this might be my signature dish from now on cos I just love Thai curry’s, Panang, Massaman… Takes me straight back to Thailand every time 🙂
Oh YAYYY, so happy you loved it, beautiful! So easy if you pre-make the paste, too – great for a dinner party to impress the friends. 🙂
Making this again right now! XD
haha, awesome! xx
hi! what a nice blog! I’ve just tried this laksa, it was since i were in malaysia, five years ago that I hope to taste it again.. and finnally, thanks to you, I decided to try.. W-O-N-D-E-R-F-U-L!!! As I didn’t have any tofu I used pumpkin chopped into little cubes and fried in coconut oil just like tofu and added 5 mins before the end. Very, very nice. Thank you!!
I live in the middle of Europe, here weather is not one of the bigger attraction, cold and misty, but this meal brought sun into house!
Alessandra, Luxembourg ville
Oh I’m so happy to hear that, Alessandra! It has such a warming effect, doesn’t it. 🙂 I’m so happy to have you here. x
I have a question about the coconut milk. Is this the thick canned variety or thin boxed type?
Hi Gina. I only ever use the canned variety and only organic – it’s so much silkier and creamier. 🙂
Love the sound of this! All the other recipes I looked at asked for a pre-made laksa paste which just isn’t available at my local supermarket. Do you have a Pinterest account I could follow?
Sure do, Jaimee! 🙂 This board’s my fave: http://www.pinterest.com/vegansparkles/the-sparkle-project/
Hello!
I was desperate to make this and rushed out to a smallish store that is open after regular trading hours and with only a limited range. I picked up minced keffir lime leaves in a jar and minced lemongrass in a jar (I usually hate not using fresh ingredients but I was desperate). What ratios of each do you think I should use to get the desired flavour? Thank you heaps!
Also found your blog only the other day and loving it so far!!
– Lucja (I was too lazy to get out of my partners account)
haha, I love it, Lucja! And welcome. I’m so happy you found me. 🙂
About 5 tsp of the keffir lime leaves and 3-4 tsp of lemongrass should do it nicely. x
Thank you so much! Looking forward to more of your wonderful posts 🙂
– Lucja
Brilliant recipe, thank you very much! Just battling off the end of a cold and this toasted me up and cleared out the sinuses. Loaded in a bit more chilli and it was divine. So cheap to make at home, the flavour in the homemade paste just knocks your socks off. Not sure if I will try to find a vegan laksa out of home for a very long time. Singin’ it with ya sista!
Oh I’m so happy to hear it warmed you up and helped with the healing, Juls! Here’s to delicious food as medicine, always. 🙂 x
I tried the recipe last night and impressed myself with the results!!! Thanks very much.
haha, oh snap! I had it for dinner last night too, Cecilia. So happy to hear that yours was delicious too. 🙂 x
Wow! I just made this for dinner and it was AMAZING!!! I loved the fresh flavours and it was so simple to make. Thank you so much for the recipe.
Oh my pleasure, Kym! Aren’t Thai fresh flavours just the BEST?! I’m so happy to hear you loved it as much as I do! 🙂 x
I attempted my first Laksa using your recipe & must say it was my family favorite! I loved making it from scratch & thoroughly enjoyed cooking it with our favorite veggies – eggplant;, okra & long beans. Thanks so much for sharing!
Oh, my pleasure, Bharathi! I’m so happy to hear that you and your family loved it. 🙂 x