Curry Laksa

Laksa is one of my fave, fave, fave things to eat. It's a Malaysian curried coconut milk noodle soup. If you've never had it, run to the store to get the ingredients and enjoy. There is one very important ingredient - Belachan or Trasi as it is sometimes known. Now this stuff stinks like hell. Honestly. You'll probably gag the first time you smell it, but it is wonderful in small quantities as an ingredient. Just think of it like a very concentrated bouillon cube - would you eat a whole one? No!

This is my quick version of Laksa.

What you'll need:

• Belechan (from an Asian supermarket)
• Cooked chicken, turkey or raw seafood (shrimp is good)
• Turmeric
• 1 onion
• 4 cloves garlic
• chilli oil (also from Asian market)
• 2 cans Coconut Milk or Cream
• Fish Sauce
• Lime
• sugar (palm sugar is best, but brown is ok)
• Noodles - fresh egg noodles are great, but rice noodles or even spaghetti is fine in a pinch
• Veg - I used broccoli here.

Chop and fry the onion in some olive oil. When it's soft, add your garlic, chopped. Now add 4 tsp turmeric and 2 tsp Belechan and cook for a couple of minutes. Add the coconut milk, 3 tbs fish sauce, 2 tsp sugar and the juice of one lime. Bring to the boil and simmer for about 5 mins. Add in the veg, meat and noodles and simmer until the veg are cooked. Taste the broth and adjust seasonings. It should be salty, pungent, with a bit of a sour kick. Serve with a drizzle of chilli oil on the top.