Simply Cook – Malay Laksa

Review of Simply Cooks Malay Laksa recipe, detailing what you need to buy and how easy it is too cook. Will it turn out like the image on the recipe card?

Malay Laksa is a rich fragrant coconut curry rice noodle soup.

Preparation

I like to get everything prepared first, with a lot of recipes from Simply Cook or Hello Fresh there cooking times don’t seem to fully take into account the preparation time, nor do they allow you to prepare the next stage while your cooking and you find yourself getting into trouble with trying to watch whats cooking while chopping veg for the next stage. At the same time I also get all the utensils I need to hand so I’m not trying to find that tin opener at the back of the draw while the meal is cooking.

So preparation before hand is the key.

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For this recipe I got the following prepared before starting

• Chop the butternut squash into 1cm cubes

I use a sturdy peeler for the butternut squash and usually one squash is plenty for a number of meals. I just chop sections off the non seed end and cover the cut end with cling film and leave in the fridge – they stay firm and fresh for ages.

• Chop the chicken into bite sized pieces

We aren’t keen on chicken thighs so I always substitute for breast meat. Just chop up the required amount ready for cooking.

• Chop the Asparagus spears
• Open the tin of Coconut milk
• Get the kettle boiling with water
• Get a high sided non stick pan or wok (it does need to have high sides for this recipe)
• Spatula / wooden spoon
• Small teaspoon for getting the ingredients out of the little pots.
• 1/2 ltr measuring jug

Note: Make sure you do use light coconut milk for this recipe as the normal is too thick and creamy.

Cooking

Stage 1

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Heating a little oil in the pan and waiting until its hot before adding the butternut squash to fry gently for around 2 minutes.

You then add the Laksa Paste from the kit and mix it in, followed by the chicken, ensuring all the meat and squash get a good covering of the paste. This really does give off a powerful aroma as you’re cooking. Keep frying and stirring for another 3 minutes

Stage 2

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Mix the chicken stock in 300ml of boiling water from your kettle. I always add the stock to the water and ensure its well dissolved before mixing it into the cooking pan.

You then add the light coconut milk and stir it all in together well before bringing it to the boil. Once boiling turn down to a simmer and leave for 5 – 7 min (enough time to pour and enjoy a whiskey).

Stage 3

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Add the noodles to the pan, this is where the high sided pan is required, if you used a normal frying pan the sides aren’t deep enough and everything starts spilling out.

In my images I’m using up some fresh noodles I had and making up the rest with dried. Be careful with dried as they can suck up all the moisture from the broth so don’t add too many. Throw in the asparagus spears and mix in the Malay Garnish. Leave it all for another 3 min.

Serving Up

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Get your sous chef to ladle into bowls and add a squeeze of lime and coriander if you like.

As you can see there’s more than enough for two people we pot up the remainder and let it cool before putting in the fridge. then I have that for lunch at work the next day.

Results

I hope I have adequately shown how easy the recipe is to follow by adding pictures to highlight the process that Simply Cooks cards don’t contain. I feel that there’s nothing taxing in this recipe and if a BadDad can do it anyone can.

The cooking (if all the preps done beforehand) takes 20 min as stated on the card, the preparations probably take another 5 -6 min at most so its not a huge task at the end of the day.

Whilst my results aren’t the same as the perfection on the recipe card I think it looks appetizing – the sous chef did well in the presentation.

The meal delivered as described a spicy rich soup with noodles and crunchy asparagus and is a very pleasant evening meal.

If you follow the link below you can get your first Simply Cook box for free and we will get a discount off our next box.

Also have a look at our overview of home recipe boxes we have tried in the past.