This Thai-inspired seafood laksa is a great way to quickly bring a fabulous spicy noodle dish to the table, using just one pan and is ready in under 30 minutes. If you like spicy Thai food like me then you will love this!
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This seafood laksa is heaven in a bowl.
a sloppy, Squirt-orange-sauce-into-your-white-top-in-enthusiastic-zeal a kind of soup where you look into your husband’s bowl to see if he has anything else you could steal.
This soup is that good. It’s on the table in less than half an hour, too.
I first had laksa soup at a Thai restaurant many years ago and loved all of the flavors and textures. I may have mentioned before that Thai is my favorite food, and seafood laksa is a great way to quickly put a fabulous meal on the table with just one pan.
📋 What do we need?
For the laksa paste
For the curry and the garnish
📺 Check out how to do it
Full recipe with detailed steps in the recipe card at the end of this post.
I make my own laksa paste for this recipe. Most store-bought versions are a good alternative, but it’s pretty quick to make your own paste. You can also control the heat level.
I like to cook my paste ingredients before you mix them. I find that cooking the paste ingredients first gives the whole dish a deeper level of taste.
👩🍳PRO TIP If you like, you can use ready-cooked vermicelli. Run them in a colander/colander under some boiling water to heat them up before adding them to the bowl.
From my research, most laksa curry/soup recipes, whether from Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand or Indonesia, share the same noodle base with seafood or chicken in a spicy coconut sauce. There is also a variant called Asam Laksa, which not Use coconut milk, but it uses fish paste and tamarind for a more acidic flavor than creamy.
Believed to have originated as a combination of Chinese noodle soup (brought by early Chinese migrants who settled in Malacca, Malaysia) and local spices and coconut milk, it falls firmly under the Peranakan cuisine label.
My version came about when I was trying to figure out what to do with leftover haddock (I had defrosted too much after making fish burgers and fries with matches the night before) and some shrimp I forgot to put back in the freezer.
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Seafood Laksa
Do you have a craving for Thai food? Why not try this super delicious Thai Seafood Laksa. A great way to get a fabulous Thai meal on the table quickly, using just one pan and ready in less than 30 minutes. If you love Thai food like me then you will love this!
INSTRUCTIONS
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Heat the oil in a large pan and add the chopped onions. Cook on medium-high until onions soften and begin to turn translucent, about 5 minutes.
3 tablespoons oil, 1 onion
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Add the remaining laksa paste ingredients, stir and continue cooking for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4 red chilies, 2 tsp ginger paste, 2 cloves of garlic, 1 tsp lemongrass paste, 1 heaped tbsp fresh coriander stalks 1.5 tsp turmeric, ½ tsp cumin, ½ tsp paprika, 1 tsp tamarind paste
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While the ingredients for the laksa paste are frying, prepare the topping. In a small bowl, combine vinegar, sugar, chili, cucumber, red onion, and cilantro. Stir together, then set aside.
1 tsp rice wine vinegar, 1 tsp powdered sugar, 1 red chilli, 1 finger-sized piece of cucumber, ¼ of a small red onion, Small handful of chopped cilantro (cilantro)
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Turn off the heat of the skillet and place the onion, chilli, and spice mixture in a mini food processor or food processor. Blend together until a paste is formed (alternatively, you can use an immersion blender to puree the ingredients into a paste right in the pan, but watch out for splatters)
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Put the laksa paste back into the pan.
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Turn the heat up to medium-high and add the coconut milk, fish sauce, and broth. Stir together and heat until just simmering.
200 ml (7 fl oz) full-fat coconut milk, 1 tsp fish sauce, 200 ml (7 fl oz) chicken or seafood stock
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Add the fish, stir and cook for 4 minutes, turning a few times, until the fish starts to break down.
2 cod or haddock fillets
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While the fish cooks, soak the pasta in boiling water until tender (this usually takes about 3 minutes), then drain.
200 g dried rice/vermicelli
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Return to the laksa, add the shrimp, stir and cook for a minute. The shrimp should start to turn pink and your fish should be cooked.
12-16 king prawns
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Finally add the bean sprouts and cook for another minute so they are warm through but still slightly crispy. Turn off the heater.
200 grams of bean sprouts
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Divide the drained noodles among bowls and top with the laksa sauce and seafood.
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Top each bowl with a spoonful of the garnish you prepared earlier and serve.
✎ Notes
If you don’t want to make your own laksa paste, you can use store-bought ones. They vary in strength, so read the side of the bottle to find out how much you need for four servings.
How do I make chicken laksa instead?
Yes, you can simply substitute cooked shredded chicken for the haddock and shrimp. Alternatively, you can add raw chicken pieces with the mixed paste and cook until the chicken is sealed. Add coconut milk and broth and simmer until chicken is tender, then continue with the rest of the recipe steps.
Can I freeze laksa?
The noodles, seafood, and bean sprouts don’t freeze very well. If you’re looking to progress, I’d suggest making the paste in advance and freezing it in portions. You can then thaw and continue with the recipe from Step 4 (preparing the topping on serving day as well).
Can I make low fat laksa?
You could use low-fat coconut milk, although it’s lower in fat, it’s more prone to splitting. To counteract this, I would suggest leaving out the coconut milk until the end of cooking, then adding the low-fat coconut milk to the laksa and heating it hot. Don’t let it boil or it will burst.
Can I have lunch the next day?
If you want to make this for lunch to take to work the next day, then cook the soup to the point just before adding the bean sprouts, cool and refrigerate. Then simply heat the sauce in a skillet or the microwave for a few minutes, toss in the bean sprouts for a final minute, and pour over your pre-cooked noodles.
Nutritional information is approximate, per serving (this recipe serves 4).
Nourishment
Calories: 517kcalCarbohydrates: 58GProtein: 21GFat: 22GSaturated Fatty Acids: 11GCholesterol: 83mgSodium: 757mgPotassium: 699mgFiber: 3GSugar: 8thGVitamin A: 970ieVitamin C: 92.9mgCalcium: 74mgIron: 4.4mg
This recipe was first published in 2014. Updated in March 2018 and then again in March 2023 with new photos and videos and some housekeeping.
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