I love this bowl of coconutty deliciousness. Laksa is a comforting Thai coconut broth with vegetables and noodles. It’s spicy, creamy and noodley. I find a lot of vegan recipes are trying to emulate meat dishes, which is not great because vegan ingredients can be fantastic and with imagination don’t need to pretend they are something they are not. There are a lot of sumptuous vegan dishes that don’t shout deprivation of any kind. Hopefully you will try my vegan recipes and agree that they are just as good as any recipe using animal products, I try to make them look delicious too, and full of colour and not just a load of beige-ness.
This recipe is my take on a Laksa I hope you like it. It’s healthy and delicious.

Recipe

Serves 2.

Ingredients:
A handful of mushrooms, I used oyster mushrooms
A handful of baby pak choy or chopped regular size pak choy
Half a small butternut squash cut into tiny cubes
2 tablespoons of coconut oil
1 teaspoon of maple syrup
400ml tin of coconut milk
3 tablespoons of the laksa paste (method below)
A cup of peas
400ml of hot vegetable stock
Cucumber for garnishing cut into strips
2 limes juiced
A coriander sprig
100g of uncooked brown rice noodles (follow the instructions on the packet) you can use standard noodles too

Laksa paste
2 red chillies
2 cloves of garlic
Half a thumb of ginger root or galangal
4 small chopped shallots
1 stick of lemon grass
1 tablespoon of tamarind
2 tablespoons of cashew butter or 50g of raw cashews

Put all the ingredients into a small blender and whizz up till smooth. I used my stick blender to do this and it worked really well. Put paste into a container and keep in the fridge for up to two weeks or much longer in the freezer.

How:
Preheat the oven to 200°C and place the butternut squash cubes in a roasting dish and coat with one tablespoon of the coconut oil and a pinch of.
Roast for about ten minutes, they will need turning halfway through. Keep an eye on them as they can burn.
Meanwhile cook the noodles, drain and set aside. Put the rest of the coconut oil in a pan on a medium heat and sauté the mushrooms for a few minutes.
Then add the laksa paste and continue to sauté for a few more minutes.
Add the coconut milk, stock, lime juice, peas, pak choy, stock and maple syrup. Simmer for about five minutes.
Divide the cooked noodles between two bowls and ladle on the coconut and vegetables.
Place the roasted squash on top along with the cucumber, spring onion and coriander. You can add salt to taste.
Serve straight away with the lime wedges.

I shop at:
Waitrose
Sainsbury’s
Tesco
Lidl