Chicken and prawn Laksa

Been longing for a good laksa, which would you believe it or not, is harder to find in Singapore than you would think. Often its either too oily, or not lemak enough. Given that mine was a 'what's in the fridge' laksa, I had to improvise (e.g I didn't have thick bee hoon, and there wasn't enough yellow noodle, so I just mixed yellow noodle with kway teow). I must say that my dad's fridge is pretty well stocked though, although I would have liked tau pok and fish cake as well. Never mind, after a trip to the supermarket, I added that to the leftovers!

Ingredients (feeds 5)

6 lemon grass, sliced thinly

4 to 5 shallots, skinned and roughly chopped

6 cloves of garlic, skinned

2 big red chillis

1 thumb sized ginger, sliced

4 chilli padi (add more chilli to your own spice tolerance)

150g dried shrimp, soaked in hot water to soften

5 to 6 candle nuts, soaked in hot water to soften

1 tbsp belachan paste

6 chicken thighs

10 prawns, shelled and deveined, sliced into 2

10 to 12 cups of water

200ml packet of coconut milk

200ml milk (full cream preferably. U can use another 200 ml of coconut milk for a better taste if cholesterol isn't an issue)

10 laksa leaves, chopped finely (as a garnish)

3 handfuls of bean sprouts

500g of noodles (thick bee hoon or yellow noodle or both)

5 tbsp oil

pinch of sugar

4 tbsp fish sauce

Optional elements: tau pok, sliced fish cake, hum (cockles)

Method

1) Deshell the prawns, set aside the head and shells. In a hot wok, pour in 1 tbsp of oil and stir fry the prawn heads and shells until fragrant.

2) Add the chicken and brown the chicken. Add the water. Bring to a boil, then down to a simmer.

3) Remove the chicken when cooked (approx 10 to 20 mins, depending on the thickness and size of the thighs). Peel the meat off the bone and shred it, and return the bones to the prawn stock. Simmer the stock for another 20 minutes, then switch off the heat. Remember to skim the stock along the way.

4) In a food processor or pestle and mortar, chop up the items in the following order to make sambal balachan, which serves as the base of your laksa : thinly sliced lemon grass, ginger, dried shrimp and candle nuts (pour the soaking water into the stock pot), chillies, onions, garlic, and lastly, balachan. Items always taste better pounded in the pestle and mortar as the oils esp for the lemon grass are released, but its a long tedious process to get everything into a smooth paste.

5) In a large pot, pour in 3-4 tbsp of oil. Carefully add the sambal balachan as it is very likely to 'spit' once it hits the hot oil. Stir fry everything until the mixture 'splits', aka isn't a smooth paste anymore. It may seem like a lot of oil, but everything gets quickly absorbed. Add 1 tsp of sugar and stir fry until combined.

6) Slowly add the stock ladle by ladle and continue stirring until well combined. Let this simmer for 10 minutes for the spices to infuse into the stock. Add the milk and coconut milk. Bring up to a boil, then down to a simmer for 10 minutes. Switch off the fire.

7) Prepare the noodles by scalding in boiling water for about 3 minutes, and draining. Similarly, prepare the bean sprouts using the same method, scalding them for about 30 seconds before draining.

8) Bring the gravy back to a boil. You will notice that the gravy starts to thicken. Add the shredded chicken, prawns (which only require about 30 seconds of cooking) and fish cake / tau pok if using.

9) To serve, simply assemble. Into a bowl goes the noodles and spouts, then topped off with the gravy. Garnish with chopped laksa leaves. You can also garnish with shredded deseeded cucumber to increase the vegetable content.