Prawn & Coconut Laksa

Ingredients

• 500 ml chicken or vegetable stock
• 2 lemongrass stalks, bruised
• 2 x 400ml tins full-fat coconut milk
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tsp caster sugar
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 3 tbsp laksa paste
• 3 kaffir lime leaves
• 400 g raw king prawns, peeled and deveined
• 200 g dried flat rice noodles
• 200 g bean sprouts
• 2 spring onions, thinly sliced
• 1 red chilli, thinly sliced
• 1 lime, cut into wedges
• 15g fresh coriander
• Pickled cucumber, to serve

Method

1. Bring a large pan of well-salted water to the boil — it should taste like the sea. Cook the rice noodles to packet timing, then drain, rinse under cold water to stop them clagging together, and divide between four deep bowls.
2. Heat the oil in a heavy pot or wok over medium heat. Add the laksa paste and fry for 2 minutes, stirring constantly, until it darkens a shade and turns deeply fragrant. Bloom the paste properly here — raw it tastes dusty and flat, bloomed it tastes of itself and your kitchen smells like a hawker stall.
3. Add the bruised lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves, then pour in both tins of coconut milk and the stock. The coconut and stock are what break the paste down into a proper broth — without that liquid you've just got a fried lump of spice. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 10 minutes, letting the aromatics infuse.
4. Stir in the fish sauce and sugar. Taste the broth — most of the salt comes from the fish sauce and the paste, so adjust now: another splash of fish sauce if it's flat, a pinch of salt if it needs sharpening, a little more sugar if it's biting. Get it right at this stage, not at the table.
5. Slide the prawns into the simmering broth and cook for 3–4 minutes, until they curl tight and turn coral pink throughout. Don't push past 4 minutes — prawns go from tender to rubbery in under a minute.
6. Off the heat, finish with a squeeze of lime juice straight into the pot — the acid lifts the coconut richness and wakes the whole broth up. Taste one more time, season if it needs it.
7. Ladle the prawns and broth generously over the waiting noodles. Pile a handful of bean sprouts on each bowl, scatter the coriander leaves and spring onions, drop a few rings of red chilli on top, and tuck a lime wedge against the rim for squeezing at the table.