Smoked salmon laksa with soft-boiled eggs, peanuts & pickled mustard greens

This recipe was also published in ‘The Evening Standard, The Reveller, Food & Drink’ section. Article named, “Coronation eats: Three recipes and a cocktail fit for a king”, written by David Ellis, 06.05.2023.

The laksa is originally from Indonesia but is widely accepted to be a result of the mixing of cultures and cooking practices in Chinese coastal settlements. Its popularity has led to variations being developed in Malaysia, Singapore and, most importantly for me, southern Thailand. The dish offers the characteristics of a curry and a soup, making it ideal to eat with noodles as a way of soaking up all the delicious juices.

Serves 3

GF

100ml vegetable oil

300g red curry paste (click to order my fresh curry paste can be ordered next day delivery, UK-wide)

1 tablespoon mild curry powder

10g dried shrimp, ground to a floss

2 medium eggs

1 tablespoon soft brown sugar or palm sugar

2 tablespoons fish sauce

200ml fish stock

400ml coconut cream

400g smoked salmon fillets, cut into bite-sized pieces

300g fine vermicelli rice noodles, blanched for 1 minute in boiling salted water and then refreshed in cold water

10g coriander, chopped to garnish

20g chopped pickled mustard greens (these can be found in most supermarkets in pre-packaged bags), chopped into smaller pieces (optional)

1 large lime, cut into wedges to serve

3 tablespoons toasted peanuts, lightly crushed in a mortar and pestle

Heat the oil in a medium saucepan. When sizzling hot, add the curry paste, curry powder and shrimp, and fry while shaking the pan and scraping regularly to ensure the mixture doesn’t stick. Cook for 8–10 minutes until all the ingredients come together and the paste looks a little darker.

Meanwhile, soft-boil and then peel the eggs: a medium-size egg takes 5 minutes to soft-boil on a rolling boil. I always cook mine in salted water and then put them into a bowl of ice-cold water with a splash of vegetable oil. If you peel the eggs in the water, the oil gets between the shell and the flesh, making them easier to peel. Set the eggs aside.

Back to the paste: add the sugar and cook for a few minutes until the paste darkens a little more as the sugar caramelises. Deglaze the pan by adding the fish sauce and the fish stock, then bring back to the boil. Add the coconut cream and bring to a simmer. Check the seasoning as you may prefer a little more sugar or fish sauce.

Drop the salmon into the curry and allow to simmer for 2-3 minutes. The heat from the curry will cook the small pieces of fish quickly and serve in a large bowl with the blanched noodles. Pour the hot curry over the noodles to warm them up. Garnish with a sprinkling of coriander, the peanuts, the pickled mustard greens, the eggs cut in half with the soft yolks running into the curry, and wedges of lime to squeeze over.