Aubergine and Broccoli Laksa - A British Take on a Malaysian Classic

This has to be my all time favourite vegetarian dish. It is fresh, tasty, quick to make and packs a real punch with the chilli peppers. To me this dish really sums up Southeast Asia, offering wonderful aromas with a subtle balance of flavours, and the richness of coconut milk. It reminds me of my time travelling from Penang in Northern Malaysia down to Singapore.

Laksa is sold on the street corners by hawkers and in food stalls throughout Malaysia and Singapore, and uses a wide range of ingredients. I guess that every family, restaurant and hawker has their own version of this dish.

Feel free to chop and change the ingredients. If you prefer flat rice noodles to thin egg noodles, then by all means change it, and have some fun with the ingredients. Usually a laksa is accompanied with chopped fresh fruit and salad vegetables sprinkled on the top before serving.

The spice paste is enough for four people if making it for two, keep the leftover paste in the fridge. It will keep for 3-4 days if covered. If you want to make this for 4 people, just use a bigger pan and double the sauce ingredients, the vegetables and the noodles.

Serves 2 as a main course

Spice paste

• 2 medium chilli peppers, de-seeded and sliced
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2 inch piece of root ginger
• 3 stalks of lemon grass
• Zest of a lime plus the juice
• Handful of fresh chopped coriander
• I tsp turmeric powder

Vegetables

• Medium head of broccoli, broken into florets
• 1 medium aubergine

Sauce

• 1 pint (450ml) of chicken or vegetable stock
• 1 can of coconut milk
• 2 tbsp Nam Pla (Thai fish sauce)
• 2 tsp palm sugar
• 4 oz (100g) thin egg noodles
• A little oil for frying
• 2 finely chopped spring onions (scallions), including the green parts
• Chopped mint and coriander leaves to garnish

Making the spice paste

First of all you need to make up the spice paste in a blender. It’s best to cut up the ingredients before putting them into the blender a little to make sure that everything gets evenly chopped. You don’t want to turn this into a smooth paste, just get everything nicely mixed without any big lumps.

Peel and roughly chop the garlic, slice the chilli’s taking care to wash your hands afterwards, peel and roughly chop the root ginger, strip the tough outer leaves off the lemon grass and roughly chop up the softer inner part. Throw it all into the blender with the coriander, turmeric, lime zest and juice and blitz it. You’ll probably have to add a little oil to get it to form into a nice paste.

Make the sauce

Place a pan on a medium heat and add a few drops of oil. When hot, add half of the spice paste. Fry this gently for 1-2 minutes to take some of the rawness out of it. Add the stock, coconut milk and palm sugar, stir, and turn the heat to low to simmer gently.

Prepare and add the vegetables

Wipe the aubergine and cut it up into bite sized chunks and add them to the pan. Simmer for around 10 minutes until soft.

Whilst waiting for the aubergines to cook, add the broccoli florets to a pan of boiling salted water and cook for 5-8 minutes or until “al dente”, they should have a little crunch to them. Drain the broccoli, reserving the water. Bring the pan back to the boil and put the noodles into the broccoli water. Cook for about 3-4 minutes or until soft. Drain and add to the Laksa pan along with the broccoli. Give it a quick stir and serve.

Sprinkle some chopped mint, coriander, and spring onions (scallions) to the top of each bowl before taking it to the table. If you like it hot, have some chopped fresh chilli in a separate bowl for people to add as required.

I hope you love this as much as I do!