Tom yum laksa

This afternoon I had another craving for hot spicy tom yum curry or Laksa. More and more, I’m really missing the authentic real thing I’ve experienced in Singapore. “Necessity  is the mother of inventions” so I cooked this up as a good substitute for the real thing.

I don’t know what my then favorite stall’s recipe is for the dish and probably don’t want to know, lest the surprise and “mystic” is gone…but now that I miss what I have always taken for granted (since you can get the dish almost everyday anytime in Singapore) it’s time to take action and get some sort of a relief for this withdrawal. What makes the laksa so great in Singapore is the clams they put in the dish, which for health reason, alas, is no longer available for the dish. Luckily, the last time I visited the city-state some 4 years ago, I was delighted that the stall asked me if I wanted clams or not! I do!!

My recipe-no exact measurement , just an aggregate and then add as and when with tasting. My main ingredients vary between eggs and tofu or combination of both, sometimes, fish balls if I can find them!

Ingredients: 2 cubes of Knorr Tom yum for broth, 1 can of coconut milk, 1-2 tbsp of soy sauce, any brand of hot spicy chilli paste of your liking (for me I prefer the chilli paste with shrimp) or Yeo’s Singapore Curry paste 4 hard boiled eggs (or however many you feel like having), 1 bag of store bought bean sprouts, bean thread noodles or chinese vermicelli (optional), cilantro for ganish. If I want to have a more hearty mean - I add tofu (bean curd) to the broth.

Method: In a 2-3 qrt pot, boil 1 cup of water to dissolve 2 cubes of knorr tom yum; add coconut milk stir till mixture is nicely combined, add soy sauce, 2-3 BIG spoons of chilli paste and Yeo Singapore curry paste; stir till the ingredients are nice integrated in the broth - taste and add more of the soy sauce, chilli and/or curry paste if needed. Simmer for 20-25 mins. Add the hard boil eggs, bean sprouts to combine. If I add bean thread noodles as well, I will need to cook the bean thread, which is about 3-4 mins , bearing in mind the bean thread will still be “cooking” in the broth after the heat’s turned off.  Don’t over cook the bean thread noodles as they become really “pasty” and lose the elasticity of the noodles as becomes glob-like. (Hey just realized glob is blog spelled backwards!…) OK back to the method - if I only add hard boiled eggs and bean sprouts, I switch off the heat then add the eggs are already cooked and I want to have crunchy bean sprouts so it’s just to ”marry” the ingredients with the broth.  Garnish with fresh cilatnro and if fresh chilli peppers are available in the season, I’ll cut them and add to the dishfor the extra “oomph”.

Voila, less than an hour and I have my piping hot meal. I am running out the shrimp paste so I have to pace myself lest I can’t do this dish.