MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.06

Title: 18-Karat Laksa
Categories: Indian
Yield: 4 Servings

MMMMM-----------------QUICK PICKLED BEANSPROUTS----------------------
100 g Beansprouts
2 tb White-wine vinegar
Salt

MMMMM---------------------------LAKSA--------------------------------
1 kg Carrots; peeled
8 tb Rapeseed oil
1 Brown onion; peeled and
-chopped
6 cl Garlic; peeled and chopped
1 Ginger piece (3x3 cm);
-peeled and chopped
2 Lemongrass sticks; outer
-leaves and top 3rd
-discarded; the rest chopped
15 Fresh curry leaves
4 ts Kashmiri chilli powder
2 ts Mild curry powder
1 tb Caster sugar
2 1/2 tb Light soy sauce
400 ml Can coconut milk
240 g Tofu puffs (16)
320 g Medium rice vermicelli
-noodles
20 g Fresh Thai basil; picked, to
-serve

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour

The only thing I know of to be more successful than this recipe in
dispatching a whole bag of carrots is a horse. Roasted, the carrots'
natural sweetness counters the intensity of the aromatics and spices
in the curried laksa and, along with the coconut milk, balances it
perfectly. On a separate note, it's taken me 10 years finally to
write a recipe that uses a kilo of carrots for a main course. I'm so
proud of it that I may just frame it and put it up next to my grade 1
piano certificate in the downstairs bathroom.

Note: most of the ingredients go straight into a blender to create the
laksa paste. You can buy tofu puffs in Chinese supermarkets and
online. Laksa noodles (medium rice vermicelli) are difficult to
source; when I can't find them, I use wheat ramen noodles or rice
sticks instead.

Heat the oven to 220°C (200°C fan)/425°F/gas 7. To make the
pickle, pop the beansprouts, vinegar, 2 ts of salt, and 150 ml
freshly boiled water in a small heatproof bowl, leave to one side for
10 minutes, then drain.

Meanwhile, halve the carrots lengthways and chop them into 3 cm
chunks. Put in a single layer on a large roasting tray or two,
drizzle with 2 tb of oil and sprinkle over 1/2 ts of salt in total.
Mix with your hands, then roast for 40 minutes.

While the carrots are roasting, make the laksa paste. Put 6 tb of oil
in a small blender with the onion, garlic, ginger, lemongrass, curry
leaves, 1-1/4 ts salt, the chilli powder, curry powder, and sugar,
then blend to a smooth paste. Scrape every last bit of the paste into
a large saucepan, then rinse out the blender and put to one
side--you'll need it again later. Heat the pasteon a medium heat,
stirring regularly, for 12 minutes, then add the soy sauce, coconut
milk, roast carrots, tofu puffs, and 850 ml water.

Bring to a boil, simmer for eight minutes, then take a heaped
ladleful of the carrots with some of the liquid and pop it into the
blender. Blitz smooth, then stir back into the pot. Turn off the heat
and cover with a lid while you cook and drain the noodles according
to the packet instructions.

Distribute the noodles across four bowls, then ladle the laksa and
carrots between the bowls. Put a small pile of pickled bean sprouts
on top, along with a few Thai basil leaves, and serve.

Recipe by Meera Sodha

Recipe FROM: Dinner by Meera Sodha, 2024

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