Passport & Plate - Butternut Laksa
Malaysia | Thursday, March 5, 2015 | 5 photos
Ingredients
1 Butternut Squash (about 1.5kg whole weight)
Coconut Oil
400g Chicken
150g Mushrooms (preferably an Asian type)
1 Red Pepper
1 Large Onion
2 Cloves of Garlic
1tsp Turmeric
300ml Vegetable Stock
2tbsp Soy Sauce
2tbsp Fish Sauce
Juice of 1 Lime
400ml can of Coconut Milk
Himalayan Rock Salt
Malaysian Base:
2 Cloves of Garlic
2 Whole Chillies (Seeds and all, just not the stems!)
1tsp Palm Sugar
4 Kaffir Lime Leaves
18g Stem Ginger (skin removed)
Small Handful of Thai Bail or 1tsp Thai Basil Paste
½ tsp Tamarind Paste
½ tsp Lemongrass Paste
How to prepare this recipePreheat your oven to 180°c, then thoroughly wash the butternut squash and chop up it up into large chunks for roasting. Lay the chunks out evenly on a baking tray and smother with a light layer of melted coconut oil.
Roast the butternut squash for approximately 40-50mins. Then, while the butternut squash cooks away, you can start preparing the Malaysian Base for the curry, the source of its rich and vibrant flavour.
In a pestle and mortar, beat together your garlic cloves, chillies, chopped thai basil and ginger. Next crush up the kaffir Lime Leaves in your fingers and add these, followed by the remaining ingredients for the base. Carry on grinding the ingredients.
Set the base aside. Finely chop the onion and garlic, and then the pepper and mushrooms next. I prefer these cut into reasonably sized chunks to add substance to the curry. Finally slice the chicken up into strips as well and set aside.
By this time the butternut squash ought to be beautifully cooked. Allow it to cool, then peel the skin away from the soft fleshy centre. Place the flesh into a blender or mash it up until smooth. Again set this aside.
Now bring out a deep saucepan. On a medium-high heat throw in 1½ tbsp of coconut oil and fry the chicken strips just until they are sealed. Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside. Turn up the heat to high and add the onion and garlic. Season them with salt and fry for three minutes before adding the peppers and mushrooms. Frying these for a further 5 minutes. Add ½ - 2/3 of the Malaysian base and stir this into the veg for a minute.
Add the butternut squash in to the pan, along with the turmeric, veg stock, coconut milk, soy sauce, fish sauce and lime. Thoroughly stir the curry on a high heat for a few minutes, until it begins to bubble, then set to a medium-low heat, re-introduce the chicken and pop on the pan lid. Leave the curry slowly bubbling for about 10 to 15 minutes.
Serve up straight away, either on its own or with a side of rice.
The story behind this recipeA trip to Thailand almost two years ago truly opened my eyes to the world of delicious and nutritious foods. Having never travelled further than Europe before this, this was a full cultural adventure beyond anything I could imagine.
As a gift for my graduation I spent 3 weeks exploring the country and obviously building up my chilli tolerance as I went! Before my trip I’d had very little exposure to Thai food, and was overwhelmed with joy when I tasted my first bite of Thai curry (for breakfast!!). From then on I was determined to explore all of the flavours this country had to offer, and despite opposing advice nothing was going to stop me from experiencing the street food either.
I’ve always been very interested and passionate about cooking, but on my return from Thailand this has been amplified, to say the least. With another month before I started my new job, I soon became the main cook in the house, feeding my mum, stepdad and three stepbrothers most evenings. Visiting the Asian food specialists in Manchester city centre, I brought home exotic foods I’d grown to love in Thailand but was unable to get close by.
Experimenting with these ingredients and favours I began to challenge myself to inventing my own recipes. It’s safe to say that not all of these we’re successes, but given that most evenings I was able to satisfy the stomachs of 4 hungry men and my extremely health conscious mother, I realised I’d definitely ignited something inside me.
Later, once my confidence had grown, I began to document my recipes and built myself a website where I could share them with family and friends. This creamy and vibrant Malaysian Butternut Laksa has been one of my favourite recipes that I’ve created, and always pleases family and friends. I recently posted it to my website after a perfecting the recipe. I’ve even shared it with a Filipino colleague of mine, who seems to think it’s pretty delicious too!
