Noodle soup with chicken and prawns

Laksa is a well-filled noodle soup and originates from the Peranakan Chinese, the first Chinese in the Nusantara (present-day Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia). These traders married local women and thus Chinese-Indonesian cuisine was born. Don't be put off by the impressive ingredient list, this rich soup is incredibly rewarding. Make it at the weekend and invite some friends over! - TEXT MAUREEN TAN | IMAGE SVEN BENJAMINS

Noodle soup with chicken and prawns

Preparation 3 hours

You will need this for 6 people

• 3 chicken drumsticks, the legs cut from the thigh bone
• oil, for frying
• 18 large prawns, peeled (save the shells)
• 5 kemirin nuts
• ½ tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp white peppercorns
• 1½ tbsp coriander seeds
• 2 tbsp ebi, soaked for 15 min in 2 tbsp hot water
• 1 tsp trassi
• 3 shallots, finely sliced
• 7 cloves of garlic, finely sliced
• 7 red lomboks, finely sliced
• 3 red rawits, in fine rings
• 3 cm ginger root, finely sliced
• 5 cm turmeric root, finely sliced
• 3 cm kentjur, finely sliced
• 1½ tsp salt
• 2 stalks of Chinese ginger, bruised
• 2 lemongrass stalks, bruised and twisted into a knot
• 7 lime leaves, bruised
• 4 cm laos, bruised
• 1 l thin coconut milk
• 6 eggs
• 1 bag of cooked lontong (sticky rice), diced
• 450 g glass noodles (from mung beans)
• 150 g bean sprouts, cleaned
• 3 tbsp Chinese chives, finely diced
• 10 g Vietnamese mint (leaves only), finely chopped
• 5 g lemon basil (leaves only), finely chopped
• fried onions
• 2 limes, in segments

This is how you make it

Carefully remove the skin from the chicken and also cut away the fat. Set aside. In a soup pan over medium-high heat, bring the chicken to a boil in 1.5 litres of water. Then turn down the heat to low and cook with the lid slightly tilted on the pan for about 1.5 hours. Heat 5 tablespoons of oil in a wok over medium-high heat and fry the chicken skin, fat and shrimp heads and shells, stirring, for 8 to 10 minutes. Strain the fat and press as much oil as possible from the ingredients into the sieve with a ladle. Set the oil aside. What remains in the sieve can go.

Toast the kemirin nuts, nutmeg, cumin seeds, white peppercorns and coriander seeds for 2 minutes in a dry saucepan over medium-high heat. Grind the spices in the mortar and set aside. Grind ebi, trassi, shallots, garlic, lomboks, rawits, ginger root, turmeric root, white turmeric root and the kentjur with the salt in the mortar to a fine paste.

Heat the chicken-shrimp oil in a large pan over medium-high heat and fry the Chinese ginger, lemongrass, salam, lime leaves and laos for 2 minutes. Add the paste and fry for 7 minutes. Then add the ground spices and fry for another 2 minutes. Pour in the coconut milk and bring to the boil. Then turn down the heat and cook with the lid slightly tilted on the pan for about 45 minutes.

Bring plenty of water to the boil and boil the eggs hard for 8 minutes. Quench the eggs in cold water and peel them. Halve the eggs and set aside. Remove the chicken from the stock and drain briefly. Fluff the meat into strips with 2 forks. Add the chicken stock to the pan with the coconut milk. 5 minutes before serving, cook the prawns in the soup until tender. Add the chicken too and heat simultaneously. Divide the lontong, glass noodles and eggs among deep plates. Spoon the soup with the chicken and prawns on top and distribute the bean sprouts on top. Sprinkle with the Chinese chives, Vietnamese mint and lemon basil and the fried onions. Serve with the lime wedges.

Wine

Nice, of course, that this wine is also called Java, like the island and the title of the book the dish comes from. But this expressive blend of white grapes is also a real match in terms of flavour. Pure, juicy and intense in flavour, with exotic fruit but also fresh acidity, and a soup with so many spices needs that. Philippe Fezas is one of Gascony's top winemakers and combines the sauvignon, colombard and ugni blanc varieties in his Java.
FAMILLE FEZAS GASCOGNE JAVA BLANC 2021 | BEAUVIN.CO.UK | €7.40

More recipes?

The recipe for this Laksa Betawi, Javanese meal soup, is from Maureen Tan's cookbook
JAVA | CARRERA CULINAIR | € 35

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