Homemade Fish Free Curry Laksa Recipe -- Southeast Asian Spicy Noodle Soup, Allergy Friendly, Kosher, Vegan Option

It's a cold and stormy night, and tonight I found the thing that makes it all worth it- a delicious rich and spicy soup, perfect for a night such as this.

I'm the type of person that sees a picture of a food and can imagine what it'll taste like, and ends up craving it, just from a picture, despite never having tasted it beforehand. A few weeks ago I heard about laksa for the first time, a curried southeast Asian soup, popular in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and Thailand. I looked it up and found that it generally is made with shellfish, something that I personally don't eat, but did find a recipe for vegan laksa paste, the base for the soup. I literally had recipes for laksa sitting on my open tabs on my browser the entire time, so I wouldn't lose them, and to remind myself to make it, and finally tonight, after having been out in the cold rain and not having eaten the whole day, I decided to make it.

And it is superb. I combined a few different recipes, mainly this one and this one for the paste, and another one that I can't find for the soup, and the result is mouthwatering and scrumptious, perhaps my new favorite soup.

Oh, and it is also super easy to make, once you have the laksa paste. The laksa paste lasts a week in the fridge, but can be frozen as well. Or you can just buy it.

With the laksa paste, you can make a vegan soup or not- I made mine with chicken this time, but in the future plan on doing it vegan. And unlike most laksa recipes that have fish, this recipe works for people with allergies to fish and shellfish, as well as those who follow a kosher diet and don't mix meat and fish as found in many laksa recipes that aren't shellfish based. There's no nuts in this recipe, its gluten free, and I've included a soy free option so that this is free of the top 8 allergens, and the only common allergen in it is coconut. If you leave out the noodles, or use zoodles or spaghetti squash, this recipe is also paleo, and is low carb too.

Basically, this recipe is good for nearly anyone, as long as you enjoy delicious, spicy, and coconut. Highly, highly, highly recommended.

Oh, and lastly? I replaced all the hard to find or expensive ingredients with easier and cheaper ones, to keep down the cost. Still tastes awesome.

There are many different versions of laksa, but from what I see, this version is most similar to Cibinong laksa, from Indonesia.

P.S. If you're wondering what the taste is like, I do find a similarity between it and Thai green curry paste, with many of the same ingredients, but it definitely has differences, because the proportion of ingredients in the recipe are quite different.

Homemade Fish Free Curry Laksa Recipe -- Southeast Asian Spicy Noodle Soup, Allergy Friendly, Kosher, Vegan Option

Laksa Paste Recipe
Ingredients
1 stalk lemon grass, or about 1 tablespoon chopped lemon grass parts (ideally the white, but green works too)
2 1/2 tablespoons ginger
1 medium onion
3 garlic cloves
1 - 2 hot peppers (or to taste)
1/4 cup cilantro
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon mild oil (I used sunflower)
1 sheet nori (not traditional but it gives the fishy taste that would otherwise be absent in this vegan recipe)

Laksa Soup Recipe
Ingredients:
1/4 cup oil
3/4 cup paste
1 pack mushrooms
1 cup broccoli or broccolini parts
1 red bell pepper (optional but highly recommended)
Bean sprouts
6 cups broth, chicken or vegetable
1 can (400 ml or 13 1/2 oz) coconut milk
2 tablespoons soy sauce (make sure its gluten free) or coconut aminos
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/2 pack rice vermicelli (or leave out)
Cilantro to garnish (optional)
Fresh basil to garnish (optional)
Chicken parts (optional)

Note: While I wrote down the vegetables I used for my soup, feel free to mix and match, the sky is the limit. Other vegetables I've seen put in laksa are bok choy, cabbage, carrots, swiss chard, zucchini, green beans. Play around, use whatever you like. I used these because they were what I felt like using, but there's no need. Bean sprouts are the vegetable most commonly found in laksa, from what I read, but you totally can leave them out too.

Instructions:
1. Roughly chop up your ingredients for your laksa paste. If you like spicy, use more hot peppers than mentioned. I like mild spice so I can adjust the heat as desired, but this is generally made more spicy, so feel free to up the amount of hot peppers.

2. Blend your laksa paste ingredients. Scrape down the sides and keep blending until as smooth and uniform as you can get.

3. To make the soup, heat up oil and add your laksa paste, mixing constantly, for a few minutes. Roughly chop your mushrooms and add them, and depending on how cooked you like your broccoli, you can add it now. Cook, mixing often, for about a minute.

4. Add broth and coconut milk and bring to a boil.

5. Add soy sauce/coconut aminos, salt, and lemon juice, chopped red bell pepper, and if you didn't add the broccoli before, add it now. Put your rice noodles into the pot, and simmer for approximately 10 minutes, or until the noodles are fully soft. Add deboned chicken at this point, if desired.

6. To serve, pour the soup onto bean sprouts, and top with chopped cilantro and basil, if desired.

Enjoy!

Have you ever had laksa before? Heard of it? What was in yours? Do you make homemade laksa paste or buy it? Does this look like a recipe you'd try? What vegetables would you put in yours?