This recipe laksa certain something

Shortly after moving back to Newcastle after my stint in Manchester I moved into a house in Forest Hall with one of my oldest friends TL. Now T isn’t my oldest friend through age, rather he has had the misfortune of knowing me since I was four when we started school together many many moons ago. We coincidentally (I think, unless there’s something he’s not telling me!) then went to University together, lived together (as this blog describes), lived on the same street before I moved to London and he moved to the countryside. Now he keeps chickens and grows vegetables whilst I get tube-rage and write blogs which probably tells you more about the differences between London and County Durham than anything else.

Right, so I was up to us moving in to Forest Hall. Now 21 year old men are not really known for their cooking abilities and we were no exception. We were (and are) both big fans of food, despite T weighing about half as much as me, but our lack of kitchen ability and funds limited our culinary forays somewhat. This coupled with the fact that any money we did have was quickly spent on other things such as compact discs and going to pubs, lead us to one inevitable conclusion.

Soup.

Canned Heinz vegetable soup in fact. I occasionally ventured into the Heinz tomato soup world but this was scoffed at by T who was not so keen on this one vegetable (technically fruit, I know) alternative. We had quickly assessed the food options available in local shops and by far the best value one was a can of soup paired with a loaf of brown bread. I suspect this meal cost as little as a pound.

(Rather depressingly my google image search for 'Heinz vegetable soup' brought me to 'www.a-taste-of-britain.de' website. What must Germans think of us if our best food is an American produced canned soup? Then again the sauerkraut sat at the back of my fridge since Eurovision isn't disappearing quickly or a fair representation of German food)

These days I very rarely eat canned soup but I still get my soup fix through making my own. I am now a big fan of home-made soup. Looking back it seems a bit ridiculous that we bought  super salty factory soup when it is both cheaper and tastier to make your own.

My soup making has evolved from making my Mum's winter chestnut speciality, through other root vegetable soups (oh and Jamie O's mushroom soup gets an honourable mention) to eventually starting on South East Asian soups. I love South East Asian food, and the soups are no exception. These kinds of dishes allow me to combine my love of soup with my love of spicy food. Win-win.

I promised you a laksa recipe a few posts ago and here we are. I'm classifying laksa as a soup although I think some folk may take umbrage to that, but I've just written a soup related intro so tough. There's a million different recipes for laksa, but this one is a good compromise between authenticity and ingredient availability in West London.

I'm going to split this into two, so expect the second half later today. For now I'm going to talk about the laksa paste. Half the challenge could be assembling the ingredients I'm afraid, this one requires quite a few things that you may not keep in your kitchen as standard. Don't dash off to the shops immediately though! If you're going on a trip to a Thai or Asian supermarket it might be worth waiting for the rest of the recipe...

Shepherds Bush Laksa Paste

Right, there's some ingredients in this that some of you may not be familiar with so I'll talk about them a wee bit and give some tips on where to get them, focussing particularly on shops in the Bush.

Kaffir lime leaves

The kaffir lime grows on a thorny, bush-like plant in South East Asia and both the fruit and leaves of the plant are used for cooking. I've never come across the fruit itself in the UK but the leaves are relatively easily obtainable. These leaves have a delightful aromatic citrus quality and can really transform a dish. They are typically cut or torn up before being used. I always give them a sniff before putting them in any food as the smell is wonderful.

As I understand, it is illegal to import fresh leaves into the UK as there could be non-native fauna of some description hitching a lift on the leaves, but there are dried and frozen leaves available. Now you can get the dried leaves in most supermarkets but in my opinion they are pretty rubbish. The frozen leaves on the other hand are pretty good and will keep for ages in your freezer, but you may have to make a visit to your local Thai or Asian supermarket to pick them up. If you live in the Bush, you have two local options that I'm aware of: Sri Thai on Shepherds Bush Road sells big bags of frozen leaves for about £2, bargain- mine has lasted me ages. 

Alternatively you can walk down to Thai Smile on Kings Road in Hammersmith near Ravenscourt Park tube station. Thai Smile sell little packs of frozen leaves for about 80p but this will work out considerably more expensive in the long run. If you really must, you can get dried leaves in the big supermarkets but I highly recommend seeking out the frozen ones.

Belacan (shrimp paste)

This stuff smells like death. If you sniff the jar or a spoon of the raw stuff it will send a shudder down your spine. I've never been in a zombie apocalypse but I imagine it may smell a bit like this. Yuck. Once cooked however it provides a really distinctive earthy flavour and is an essential part of many Malaysian dishes. It's made from sun dried shrimp so isn't vegetarian friendly. Best bet for getting this is Thai supermarkets, Sri Thai and Thai Smile both sell different sized jars of the stuff. I buy big ones which last me ages. I think the big jars are about £4. I may have seen this for sale in Waitrose in Westfield but I may be imagining it and in any case I doubt it's great value.

Dried Shrimp

Doesn't need much explanation this one. Buy in oriental shops. Soak in water and then drain before use.

Lemongrass

You'll most likely have come across lemongrass before. I avoid the dried sticks and the pastes as it's easy enough to find some fresh sticks . You can even pick up fresh lemongrass in Morrisons these days, but at 80p for two sorry looking sticks I'd make the journey to Sri Thai and pick up a bundle of 12 big sticks for £2.09. You can whack 'em in the freezer if you're not going to be using all of them quickly. When you're using lemongrass you should remove the woody outer layers. Then chop up the bottom third of the stick after removing the end.

Galangal

This is a rhizome, like ginger, and the two do look fairly similar. Galangal has similarities to ginger but with a bit more citrus and the flavour sometimes seems more delicate. It doesn't seem delicate though when trying to chop it up- it's hard stuff so get out your best knife and be careful.

Morrisons now occasionally sell fresh galangal and, unlike their lemongrass, seems decent value. You still may be better off going to a specialist shop though. I freeze the galangal I'm not using in the near future. Cut off the outer skin like you would ginger and chop finely.

Fresh turmeric

Another rhizome! You'll be aware of the powdered turmeric that is available in all supermarkets and Indian shops but you may not have seen the fresh rhizome. Once you remove the outer layer it reveals a bright orange flesh with a fascinating smell and taste- it reminds me of a spicy carrot. Now this ingredient gives things great taste and colour- including your fingers and clothes if you are not careful. Unless you're not bothered about having fingers like an Oompa-Loompa I suggest caution when preparing fresh turmeric. I often get my fresh turmeric in Morrisons as it seems like good value. If you can't get it there pop to Sri Thai or your local Thai supermarket.

Ingredients:

As is can be quite a pain collecting all the fresh ingredients for this, I recommend making a big batch. This makes enough for about six big servings of the final laksa. You could quite happily double the quantities and freeze what you don't use for next time.

2 tsp of curry powder

2 tbsp of red chilli powder

2t bsp of coriander powder

1 tsp of salt

1 tbsp of sugar (play with this amount depending upon how sweet you like it- I use palm sugar available from Sri Thai in tubs)

12 little Thai fresh chillis (seeds and all- this makes for quite a spicy laksa so do feel free to reduce quantity or remove seeds) 
8 dried chillis (again reduce if not keen on spiciness)

 4 tbsp of dried shrimps (soak in water and then drain)

18 candlenuts or macadamia nuts (I go to the Asian costcutter on Queensway for candle nuts, but to be honest Macadamia just as good and easier to find)

10 kaffir lime leaves (central rib removed, leaves ripped into small bits)

5cm of fresh tumeric (peeled, chopped)

8cm of fresh ginger (peeled, chopped)

8cm of fresh galangal  (peeled, chopped)

8 big shallots, roughly chopped

6 cloves of garlic  (peeled, chopped)

2 tbsp of dried shrimp paste or belacan

4 stalks of lemongrass (remove outer layers, chop up bottom third)

Method

Easy peasy. Now purists would use a pestle and mortar to make this. I don't want RSI though so usually use a food processor. Add all the ingredients and whizz until it is a smooth paste. I've sneakily taken a photo in the pestle and mortar though (it's more photogenic than our magimix).

I'll tell you how I use the paste in second post to be published shortly.

I'm not the only fan of local shops! I recently stumbled across this, in which Nigella Lawson talks about two Bush businesses...

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