Vegan laksa
Vegan laksa
I am nearing the end of my stay in Krakow. I’ve completed a monumental amount of dental treatment whilst here (so it wasn’t all fun) and I am glad for it to be over and to be going back home. Having said that it was really nice to see my parents, to see the city covered in snow and to have a break from cooking (courtesy of my lovely mum and a few nearby eateries offering good vegan food).
I decided to get my teeth in tip-top shape, as lots of my old fillings needed replacing and I am planning to have adult braces put on soon. Duncan has blazed the trail for me (he is nearly done with his treatment) and he made me realise that once you get used to them, wearing them isn’t as big a deal as I had thought. Sure they are annoying to keep clean and you would not have them put on for the fun of it, but having crooked teeth is neither pretty nor easy to keep cavity-free, so I am going to bite the bullet. If you visit the blog at some point to find it awash with soups, smoothies and mashed potatoes, you’ll know why…And I apologise in advance… 😛
Even though, I’m still about a month away from having the braces put on, today’s recipe happens to be a soup. It’s not any old soup though, it’s an aromatic, spicy and creamy vegan laksa that’s really filling and comforting – perfect for these cold winter months. It’s warming and it won’t leave you hungry, thanks to a generous topping of flat rice noodles, steamed broccoli, pan-fried tofu cubes and sprouts.
In creating this recipe, I went against Duncan’s wisdom to keep things simple and I am hoping you’ll see that it’s worth it. We always have this tug of war going on in our kitchen when he is like ‘come up with something really simple’ and I always set out with this very intention, but then get side-tracked and before I know it the recipe can no longer be called simple. See, to my mind a tasty vegan recipe (or any recipe for that matter) relies on a careful layering of flavours and textures that play off each other. Sometimes simple pleasures like new potatoes with some vegan butter and a pinch of salt will do, but most of the time a bit more effort is required to create a dish you’ll want to have again and again.
With laksa, the devil is in the spicy and aromatic paste that needs to be slowly fried off for as long as possible for all its amazing flavours to develop. Then it’s about the creaminess of coconut versus the acidity of lime and the freshness of sprouts and herbs, versus the toothiness of noodles. Typically, laksa paste contains shrimp paste for umami (or 5th taste as it’s also known). To mimic that seafoody taste, I’ve ground up some nori sheets, which adds a subtle taste of the ocean to my paste and I am really pleased with the outcome. I really hope you’ll make it and love it as much as we did!
- 3 medium shallots, sliced roughly
- 4 garlic cloves
- 2 lemongrass stalks, white part chopped (but keep the rest)
- about 40 g / 1.5 oz ginger or galangal, sliced roughly
- 4 fresh red chillis or dried Thai chillis soaked in boiling water (adjust to your level of heat tolerance)
- 1 tbsp ground (approx. 1 sheet) nori (toasted seaweed used for sushi), torn into bits**
- 2 tbsp neutral tasting oil (I used rice bran oil)
- 1 tsp ground turmeric
- 1 tsp ground coriander or 2 tsp coriander seeds (toasted and ground)
- ½ tsp ground cumin or 1 tsp cumin seeds (toasted and ground)
- 1 tsp sweet ground paprika (optional, for colour)
BROTH
- 1.2 L / 5 cups veggie stock or veggie stock powder / cube dissolved in water
- 1¼ tsp fine salt, adjust to taste
- 400 ml / 14 oz full fat coconut milk
- juice of ½ lime (approx. 2-3 tbsp), adjust to taste
- 1½ tsp sugar (I used coconut sugar), adjust to taste
TOPPINGS
- steamed green veggies: broccoli, bok choi, spinach
- 200 g flat rice noodles, cooked
- 250 g of shop-bought tofu puffs or fried / baked tofu
- 200 g fresh bean sprouts, cleaned and blanched
- fresh coriander, chopped
- Place all the paste ingredients apart from the dry spices in a food processor or chopper and process until finely shredded. You could also use a blender, but you will need to add water and the paste will splatter a lot when being fried off in the next step.
- Heat up 2 tbsp of oil in a heavy bottomed pot. Add the laksa paste and fry it off very slowly (on a low heat) for at least 15 minutes, stirring the whole time.
- With 5 minutes left to go, add dry spices and continue to fry the mixture off gently, stirring regularly.
- Next, add in stock, 1 tsp of salt and all the lemongrass leftovers that did not go into the paste, apart from the very outer leaves. Cover the pot and bring the soup to a gentle simmer. Simmer for about 30 minutes.
- Fish out the lemongrass bits with a slotted spoon and discard. Slowly stir in coconut milk.
- Taste the soup and season to taste with more salt (if needed), lime juice and a touch of sugar.
- Divide the greens, noodles and tofu puffs between 4 bowls. Top with blanched sprouts and fresh coriander.
**I pregrind it in my spice grinder and keep it in a sealed jar as it’s a perfect, rich in iodine, seasoning to sprinkle on rice / sushi and it makes an excellent replacement for the fishy umami flavour that so many South-East Asian dishes feature.
I am glad you enjoyed it and plan to make it again. I don't know where you live but you can find vegan fish sauce in a lot of places now - they tend to be based on seaweed and mushrooms, although I agree that the flavour is probably a little less pungent than the actual fish sauce. Great idea on adding in lime leaves, I love them too but they are hard to find for a lot of people and I didn't want the recipe to be too inaccessible. And yes, I do use the entire paste for this, but yes, you could use less if that tastes better to you. x Ania
I was just wondering about storage / whether the broth keeps?
Sure, you can store in it the fridge in an air-tight container for up to 5 days or in the freezer for a couple of months, but I recommend freezing the liquid on its own, without the toppings. Hope this helps! Ania
Thank you. Yes, they are cooked (steamed & blanched). Hope that helps! Ania
Good to hear that you enjoyed the flavours and yes, homemade laksa isn't quick to make - it takes time to coax flavours out. The paste is on the dry side so a food processor or a mini chopper are much more suitable than a blender, which is why I think yours struggled a bit. I'm glad you worked out a way and enjoyed the meal overall. x Ania
And also it's the white part of the lemongrass that is for blending into paste?
Thanks! Looking forward to trying it out! :)~
Not necessarily, if you are looking to use less oil you don't need to add it to the paste at all. The oil is needed to fry the paste off though to cook & caramelise the paste's ingredients. Hope this helps! Ania
Thanks so much for the recipe. xx
Aside from my now thorough education on the discrepancies of coconut milk - I love using vermicelli in place of thicker rice noodles!!
Thank you for your kind words, I'm so pleased to hear that you enjoyed this meal. And thank you so much for taking the time to leave this review - I really appreciate it. Yes, definitely - full fat coconut milk is far superior when it comes to mouthfeel. Did not know that about spring onions being called shallots down under (and my husband is an Aussie!) but as they are from the same family, that's no biggie. Hope you'll enjoy the shallot version just as much. x Ania
Definitely adding this to our regular rotation of meals :) so yum xxx
How long can the paste be kept in the fridge xx
And happy to see your page since I've been desparating to seek vegan laksa recipe!
Thanks for sharing your idea Ania :)
Sure, you can if you want, but it isn't really anything like the aroma and flavour of lemongrass. I've seen some people use lime zest, but again, not quite the same but I totally understand if you cannot find it. I hope you'll enjoy it regardless. Ania
What goes into the paste is the soft, inner, white part of each stalk as the rest is super hard and fibrous - horrible to eat. It can be used to flavour the stock however and then discarded at the end. Hope that helps! Ania
I know this may sound a bit weird but Is there a way to make the sauce a bit thicker? I really like a thick sauce/ broth lol!
Thank you!
You can just add less water/stock, more coconut milk (although that would affect the over flavour) or thicken it with a little cornflour or flour (making a roux). Hope that helps! Ania
I’m very grateful for this recipe, it’s my go to when I’m feeling run down!
Thanks so much for the recipe!!
No lemongrass or lime on hand but still yum!!
Sadly nothing interesting to put in it other than ramen and tofu.
It sounds like the paste got burnt - that's what gives it a bitter flavour. It is key to use low heat and stir the whole time. Ania
I would freeze the soup, sure, but I think the toppings may not be very nice after thawing. That's my hunch anyway. Ania
I am sorry but I am unable to provide calorie count for my recipes. Ania
My small changes-
I used spaghetti squash instead of noodles ( I cooked it separately, I didn’t want them getting soggy)
I used kombu instead of nori, added it with the extra lemongrass pieces and took them out at the same time, too.
Next time I’ll roast some cashews to add to the toppings.
This recipe is bookmarked! Thanks Ania! Excited to see what other recipes you have on here!
Anyway lovely recipes and always beautifully styles
This recipe looks lovely - I might make it today!
Have you considered putting the ingredients into some app such as MyfitnessPal as this will often give you the breakdown. I manually add into Recipes, putting in the number of portions I expect to get
I love your recipe's simple or elaborate doesn't bother me, you are amazing and give us such amazing concoctions.
I was wondering if you would consider breaking down some of the nutritional values in your creations, I have a problem in that I am diabetic and need to count for instance both calories and carbs, in order to dose my meds with. Otherwise I have to just shoot from the hip and guess. The laska soup looks amazing and I have to be careful to get a reasonable amount of carbs because my body uses this for energy, and takes energy from my muscles, while I have this challenge.
I count my calories because I am gradually cutting them to a healthy level for weight loss which helps me eventually overcome the diabetes, as I am type 2.
I do understand it could be hard to do this and I would do it, only I don't know how to begin getting the nutritional values, maybe if you know you could direct me to finding out how to do that, if this would not suit your schedule, I know I am asking a lot, and it's time consuming.
Thank you for your consideration xoxox
Satya
Many thanks for your kind words about my recipes - so nice to hear!
As for your request, I would love to able to provide these values, but as you say it's a very time consuming job as I don't know of a reliable plugin that calculates all these values automatically. Additionally, I would have to do that for all my past recipes, which I have more over 400 at the moment. Here is an explanation on how to calculate your macros, which is what I think you are after. I know that there are phone applications that can help you do that, but I cannot recommend any as I have never attempted to do that myself. Sorry I cannot be of any more help right now. Ania
Me again lol. I made your wellington at Christmas. Very good
I fancy making this creamy laksa but I don’t like coconut. Could I replace the coconut milk with yoghurt do you think?
Many thanks
Julie