Spicy Malaysian seafood noodles

A spicy Malaysian seafood noodles dish likely to appeal to anyone who enjoys laksa. But, whereas most laksas are more like a spicy soup with noodles, this dish has a thicker sauce coating the noodles, revealing delicious vegetables and seafood.

Sorority house party

Years ago I worked with a Malaysian colleague, a nurse. We clicked both on a professional and personal level, working very effectively together especially in demanding situations. However, for some reason, we were always too busy dealing with clinical antics to get around to talking about food. But, when she finally learned about my passion for Asian cuisine, she insisted that I come over for supper. I accepted immediately, but insisted that I wanted to be there during the cooking, to learn and help, not just to enjoy.

When I arrived at the house in North London she shared with two other Malaysian nurses with other specialisms, there was already a festive and very welcoming vibe. As promised, they'd held back on starting the cooking so I could observe. Easier said than done. Soon there was a whirlwind of very energetic women working in effortless unison, boiling noodles, chopping vegetables and making the spice paste. It was hard to keep up with who was doing what. Fortunately, I was tasked with helping to pound the spice paste using a huge pestle and mortar. This is actually the most complex part of this recipe. So, having someone knowledgeable talk me through it at every stage, an occasionally skeptical eyebrow raised when my technique was rubbish, was the best way to learn this recipe, even if I now default to kitchen appliances to take on the heavy lifting.

With the conversation flying fast and furiously, I'm not entirely sure that I got to the bottom of this one. I clocked that it was most similar to what gets called Nyonya laksa, but that it wasn't a recipe inherited from grandma. Rather it was their signature recipe because it was a shared "college buddy" recipe. They'd grown up in different places, but met in Singapore when they started their training as nurses. They tried a local place known for its Peranakan Chinese cuisine recommended to them by fellow students who grew up in Singapore. The kindly woman who ran the place took them under her wing.

"She was always moaning that we worked too hard and were too skinny," my colleague joked.

So, this is my version of a recipe transmitted to me by a friend and her house mates, that had previously been passed on to them years before.

Go with lazy

I'm including the recipe for the original spice paste here, but you can always cheat and use a store-bought laksa paste, adding what is missing. I tend to make it in larger quantities than needed. It will last safely in the fridge for only about two weeks (the dried shrimp) but it freezes very well and I usually just push it into an ice tray, removing as many cubes as I need when I want to knock it up quickly.

Similarly, the original version I was taught involves making the paste through the laborious process of chopping ingredients and then pounding them down using a pestle and mortar. These days I default to a handheld blender and a mini-chopper. It's up to you.

In terms of spiciness, I would describe this dish as "mild to moderate" in the quantities in this recipe. But, you can always reduce the number of fresh and dried chillies. In the matter of the fresh chillies, don't use very hot bird's eye (Thai) chillies but the slightly larger, slightly milder type you often find served on Asian salad dishes.

It's really difficult to be 100% specific about the chillies in this recipe. If I have any advice on the dried chillies that you rehydrate, try to buy them from a South East Asian brand. Indian Dandicut dried chillies (more widely available in the UK) tend to be a lot hotter. Similarly, you want to try to use fresh chillies that are not small, very hot bird's eye (Thai) chillies. The chillies will also play a role in defining the colour of your dish, but don't worry about that. It can be anywhere from a fiery red to a pale orange without there being anything wrong with it at all.

Once cooked, you can safely store in the fridge for up to two days, reheating in a microwave. One hack everyone should know is that when reheating dishes that contain cooked prawns, don't simply microwave until piping hot. Rather, reheat on full power one minute at a time and stirring between each one-minute sprint. This helps prevent the prawns from turning into seafood bubblegum.

NB: the spice paste contains shrimp and hence is not appropriate for anyone with shellfish allergies.

The quantities in this recipe easily serve 4 diners. But please note that the images show slightly different quantities of some ingredients (e.g. the eggs).

3 top tips to get this recipe right:

• I am using fresh Beijing-style egg noodles because this particular brand is a favourite; absolutely excellent noodles. They are also notably longer than most most egg noodles, fresh or otherwise. So, unless you don't mind inelegantly slurping very long noodles, you might want to use more standardly sized egg noodles

• I'm doing this recipe with king prawns and sliced white fish balls of the ilk sold frozen in many Asian supermarkets, the things with which I had it the first time I tasted it. But there aren't any rules about what you should use. Chicken and the combination of chicken and prawns is seemingly a popular option, as is the option of using tofu and no animal protein. Just adjust the timing of when you put them in the pot to not under or overcook them

• Dried shrimp is widely available to order online and in many Asian supermarkets around the world and I really recommend you use this. But, if that seems like too much work or simply too scary, there are two hacks you could try. One would be to use 3tspns of shrimp paste (available through pretty much the same avenues but without all those extra steps) or 2tspns of Thai fish sauce that is even more widely available

Shopping list

for the spicy Malaysian seafood noodles

• Approx. 250g king prawns; raw, shelled

• Approx. 6 white fish balls; defrosted sliced

• Approx. 400g medium-to-thick fresh egg noodles; boiled and drained

• 1 large red sweet pepper (or bell pepper); sliced

• Approx. 150g baby sweetcorn; cut into pieces

• 3 or 4 sticks celery; washed and roughly sliced

• 2 handfuls shimeji mushrooms (or thinly sliced closed cup mushrooms)

• 1 medium bak choy; trimmed and leaves pulled apart

• 200g coconut milk; full fat

• 3tbspns sunflower oil (or peanut oil)

• salt and pepper to taste

• Boiling water (approx. 350ml)

for the spice paste

• 6 dried chillies; soaked to rehydrate, deseeded

• 2 fresh red chillies; deseeded and roughly chopped

• 3 small onions; peeled and roughly chopped

• 5 cloves of garlic; peeled; roughly chopped

• ½ cup dried shrimp; soaked, toasted, and then finely ground

• 5 shallots; peeled and cut into pieces

• 1tspn turmeric powder

• ½tspn ground nutmeg

• 4 whole cloves

• 2tspns lemongrass paste

• 1tspn roughly ground black pepper

• Juice and pulp of 2 fresh limes

• 4-5 makrut lime leaves; torn

• 2tbspns sunflower or peanut oil

• 2 thumb’s lengths of fresh ginger; peeled

• 1 thumb’s length fresh galangal; peeled

Cooking Method

the spice paste

1. Add all of the ingredients except for the onions, ginger and galangal to a mixing jug. Using a handheld blender, work them into a thick paste, lubricating with a little oil, as needed. Once a fairly smooth paste, place to one side

2. Add the onions, ginger and galangal to a mini-chopper until finally chopped, but not actually a paste

3. Combine both elements in a mixing bowl producing a thick spice paste with notable "bits" in it

the spicy Malaysian seafood noodles

1. Hard-boil your eggs. You can do this some time before. If storing in the fridge, make sure to return to room temperature before cooking the dish

2. Similarly, cook your noodles in boiling salted water according to the instructions on their packaging. When cooked, drain and run under cold water, prying them apart with tongs. This will prevent them from sticking to each other as they cool. Again, you can do this some time before

3. Heat the oil on a medium heat in a wok or pot with a lid. Add the spice paste and sauté for about 5mins, adding dabs of hot water if needed to prevent sticking

4. Add the sliced sweet red pepper and stir in, sauteing for another 5mins or so; until they show signs of softening. Repeat the process with the celery, sauteing for a further 5mins

5. Increase the heat, adding the boiling water. Bring to the boil, then cover, and reduce the heat and simmer vigorously for 5mins

6. Add the lime juice and coconut milk and stir in. Add the baby sweetcorn, stirring in. Re-cover and simmer for another 5mins

7. Add the mushrooms and a little more boiling water if it has cooked down rapidly. Re-cover and simmer for 5mins. After 5mins, reduce to a low-medium temperature

8. Wait until the pot is simmering only very gently before adding the sliced white fish balls and, about 2mins later, the king prawns. Stir gently almost continuously. You're looking out for the prawns are turning pink. As soon as the majority of the prawns are a cooked pink colour, add all of the noodles into the pot, spreading them around with tongs

9. Once the noodles have re-heated (this shouldn't take more than about 2 to 3mins) lower the hardboiled eggs into the sauce (to reheat them) and add the curry leaves. Cover and gently simmer for 2mins or so

10. Add the bok choy and gently fold into the noodles and sauce. Re-cover and allow them to wilt for about a minute. Then remove from the heat and allow the heat of the sauce to cook the bok choy for another minute or so

11. Remove the hardboiled eggs, peel off the shells and cut them in half. Plate the noodles and sauce, topping each bowl with two halves of a boiled egg, garnish with a little black pepper, and then take to table

Alternatives

This is by default a pescatarian dish because, even if you make it with tofu, the spice paste contains shrimp products.

To create a vegan version, the best version I have created so far involved substituting the shrimp paste with a mixture of miso paste and mirin. Other than that, it's simple, because all you need to do is add the tofu after adding the noodles and it's pretty much the same recipe. However, I prefer to make vegan versions that don't use tofu, instead using two types of mushrooms such as shimeji and chunky slices of king oyster mushrooms which have more flavour than tofu, which can be bland.

As already mentioned, this is one of those dishes when the protein content tends to be defined by what's at hand on the day in Singapore. So, for carnivores (or those who don't like seafood) it's often made with small pieces of chicken or duck cooked in the broth and occasionally with thin slivers of beef.

Pairings

This is another of those dishes that I have always always tended to have with cold beer. I'm having it here with Tiger beer, Singapore's iconic brew. But, it works with almost any decent lager or pilsner. After all, Tiger was established in the 1930s by European brewers aiming for the niche expatriate market of merchants and functionaries based in this strategic hub of commerce in South East Asia, offering them "a taste of home". Even they were a little surprised at how eagerly locals embraced it and today it is a leading Asian beer brand.

On the rare occasions I have had it with wine, I would say that it has worked best with Riesling. I can't remember any specific one, only that it's the wine filed in my in-brain archive as what works best.

As a word of caution, this dish has offered some interesting lessons in wine. I'm on record as frequently asserting that chenin blancs, particularly South African ones, are one of the safest bets for curries and spicy Asian food, my go-to curry wine. Well, not in this case. There is something in a good, brutish chenin blanc that works so well cutting through more intense curries that rather jars with some of the delicate flavours that bubble to the surface in this dish on its substantial base of almost "milky" noodles.

Thinking about it now, though I have never tried it, I can imagine it would work well with one of those pinot gris/pinot grigios or even a colombard, the kinds of "easy", more neutral dry whites with a lower acidity often poopooed by serious wine people. Note to self: must try.