Singapore is one of my favorite countries that I visited, mainly because of the food scene there. Prawn mee, hainanese chicken rice, skewers, soursop juice, etc….and laksa!

Knowing me, of course I have to recreate it at home – from scratch. I had no idea what to expect because I couldn’t find many recipes or much info online to compare. I’m so glad it turned out well because there were so many parts to it that it took quite a bit of time.

Ingredients
- shrimp heads
- fish sauce
- rock sugar
- egg noodles (fresh lo mein)
- rice noodles

PASTE
- dried chili
- shallot
- garlic
- candlenut
- ginger
- lemongrass
- belacan (shrimp paste)
- dried shrimp
- coriander seeds
- turmeric (mix separately)

TOPPINGS
- shrimp
- shredded chicken
- cuttlefish balls
- tofu puff
- lemon (optional)
- sambal (optional)
- other: fish cake, chinese vegetables

Directions

1. Make the broth: Sauteé the shrimp heads in oil, then add water. Simmer for 1 hour. In a separate pot, sauteé paste and coconut milk. Stir in the shrimp broth, fish sauce, and rock sugar.
2. Make the paste: In a food processor or blender, combine all the ingredients. (If you want to enhance the flavor more, toast the belacan and coriander seeds. I also added the turmeric into the broth instead because I didn’t want the possibility of staining my food processor into yellow 😅)
3. Shredded Chicken: Poach chicken thighs for 20 mins under low heat and with enough water to cover its surface. Season with plenty of salt (and pepper and bay leaf, optional). Shred by hand or with a fork.
4. Prep the toppings to cook in the broth.
5. Cook noodles according to package, in a separate pot. (Dip the noodles in broth for a few seconds to absorb some flavor).
6. Assemble the laksa: noodles, toppings, broth, and sambal. (The broth is flavorful enough so sambal is optional).

Luckily, these niche ingredients are already in my pantry since I’ve been diving into cooking Thai, Vietnamese, and Malaysian cuisines this past year 😋

Edit: I’ve just gotten a notification that it’s my 15th year with WordPress! And I must say that this is my most in depth recipe post by far 🙌