United Kingdom

Oxford

Laksa is a spicy noodle soup from the Malay Peninsula and the Straits, and the name covers two families that share little beyond noodles and chilli. Curry laksa, the one most of the world means, is a coconut-milk broth built on a fried paste of dried chilli, shallot, garlic, galangal, lemongrass, turmeric and dried shrimp, poured over thick rice noodles or a mix of rice and yellow wheat noodles, with tofu puffs, prawns, cockles, fish cake, bean sprouts and half a boiled egg, finished with a spoon of sambal and a few leaves of daun kesum, the Vietnamese coriander that gives the dish its smell. Asam laksa, from Penang, has no coconut at all: a sour, cloudy broth of flaked mackerel, tamarind, torch ginger flower and mint, over thick round noodles, topped with cucumber, pineapple, onion and a spoon of black prawn paste. Singapore's Katong laksa cuts the noodles short so the whole bowl is eaten with a spoon, and Sarawak laksa adds a dark, roasted paste and omelette strips.

Curry laksa stands or falls on the paste and the stock. The paste is fried slowly in oil until it splits and darkens, which takes longer than most kitchens allow, and the stock underneath is prawn shells and chicken bones simmered together; coconut milk goes in last and is never boiled hard, or it splits into oil and curd. The noodles are blanched separately and set in the bowl, the toppings arranged on top, and the hot broth ladled over so the tofu puffs soak it up like sponges. Asam laksa takes the opposite path: the fish is poached, flaked and returned to the strained broth, the souring agents are added in stages, and the soup is reduced until it is thick with fish. Both are street and hawker dishes, cooked in a single pot that goes all day and served from a stall that often makes nothing else.

Judge a curry laksa by the broth first: it should be orange-red, rich but not greasy, with a clear layer of chilli oil at the edge, taste of dried shrimp and spice before coconut, and leave a slow heat. The noodles should be slippery and separate, the prawns just cooked, the tofu puffs swollen with soup, and the kesum leaves fresh. Mark down a broth that is pale and tastes mainly of coconut, a thin or watery soup, oil pooled on top from a split coconut milk, rubbery prawns, cold toppings dropped into hot soup, and a bowl where the sambal has been stirred in for you so the heat cannot be adjusted. For asam laksa the test is sourness and fish: it should be sharp, fishy in a clean way and thick with flakes, and a sweet or thin version has been toned down for tourists.

Laksa

Banana Tree Oxford

Perfectly spicy and flavourful. Could be described as the ultimate hangover cure. It makes the Banana Tree restaurant chain worth visiting just for this dish alone. Goes equally great with either Tofu, Chicken or Prawns.

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Laksa

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