Xiengni's Vegan Laksa

• servings: 4 servings
• total time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Ingredients

5cm Knob of Ginger

200g Shallots

6 Cloves of Garlic

2 Lemongrass Stalks

9 Red Chillies

5 Dried Chillies

1 Tomato

1 Tbsp Miso Paste

1 ½ Tbsp Ground Turmeric

2 Tbsp Curry Powder

1 Tbsp Ground Coriander

2 Limes

30g Tbsp Brown Sugar

1 Tbsp Tamarind Paste

1 ½ Tins of Coconut Milk

1 ½ Vegetable Stock

Handful of Fresh Coriander

Handful of Curry Leaves (Optional)

300g Cornflour

2 Tsp Chinese 5 Spice

450g Firm Tofu

150g Oyster Mushrooms

2 Pak Choi

150g Bean Sprouts

200g Green Beans

100g Vermicelli Noodles

Salt

Pepper

Vegetable Oil

Directions

First, soak the dried chillies in boiling water in a heatproof bowl.

Now let's make the spice paste. Roughly chop the ginger, peeled shallots and one lemongrass stalk. Add to a blender along with your garlic and 3 tbsp of vegetable oil. Blend the ingredients till it forms a purée. This is your garlic paste.

Add your garlic paste to a large non-stick wok, pour in 200ml of vegetable oil and let this cook for 30 mins on a medium-low heat.

Meanwhile, roughly chop the fresh chillies and tomato. Blend the drained dried chillies, chopped chillies and tomato with 2 tbsp of vegetable oil in the same blender till it forms a purée. This is your chilli paste.

Now add the chilli paste to your wok and give it a good mix. Let it cook until the oil separates from the paste.

Add in miso paste, turmeric, curry powder and coriander powder before squeezing in the juice of a lime and giving it a good mix. Next you’re going to want to add in the sugar, tamarind paste, coconut milk, stock, and a smashed lemongrass stalk along with a small handful of coriander leaves and 12 curry leaves.

Bring the laska broth to a boil then let it simmer on a low heat for 25 mins.

Meanwhile, chop your tofu into halves then into quarters. Add cornflour, salt, pepper and Chinese five-spice to a large bowl and thoroughly mix the tofu in.

Get a pan on medium-high heat, pour in a glug of oil and fry your tofu until crispy. Set aside.

Thoroughly mix your oyster mushrooms in the same five-spice cornflour mix before chucking them in the pan. Fry on each side for a few mins each until crispy and set aside.

Whack your noodles into a large heatproof bowl with boiling water. This will take 3-4 mins to cook. Drain, rinse with cold water (to stop it from cooking) and set aside.

Get a pot of boiling water on then add your green beans for 3 mins. Add your beansprouts to the same pot and blanch for 15 seconds.

Add the pak choi to your laksa broth and cook for 10 seconds.

Now, add your noodles to a medium-sized bowl, add in a large ladle of laksa broth and the tofu, mushrooms, green beans, beansprouts and pak choi. Garnish each bowl with red chillies, coriander, mint and halved limes and tuck in.

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 4