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Vegan Laksa – Malaysian Curry Laksa Soup Recipe. Homemade Laksa paste with Fresh Turmeric Root. Warming, spicy, flavorful soup for fall and winter. Curry Laksa Recipe. Vegan Gluten-free Soy-free. Pin it for later.
The past weekend was predicted to be filled with big storms, rain, wind, all grey and no sun. The forecast models were not entirely correct though, so we had some rain, some wind and some sun too. No one is complaining :). The temps are dropping however and the only thing I want to do is a curl up with a bowl of soup and listen to some holiday theme novels (audio books).
This Laksa curry is super flavorful, anti inflammatory and delightful. The paste can be made at home and used whenever you want a bowl of the soup or a quick stir fry. Use whatever ingredients you have in the paste and make this curry laksa with noodles or more veggies or crisped up panfried tofu. The spices are toasted then blended or processed with herbs, aromatics, fresh turmeric root and some cashews. The paste is roasted in a little oil to release the flavors, then mushrooms and veggies and cooked for a few. The broth, coconut milk and noodles are brought to a boil and simmered until the noodles are tender and the soup thickens a bit to preference. Fold in some greens, mint and cilantro and serve. Fresh turmeric root adds the bright color to this laksa paste. Use ground turmeric if you cannot find the fresh root. Also try this turmeric root ginger root tea for the fall blues. Turmeric stains, so work carefully whether using fresh or dry.
More soups to try from the blog
This easy creamy filling Broccoli Slaw Soup, Turkish lentil soup, 15 min Indian Spiced tomato Soup, Curried Butternut Squash Soup with toasted pepitas or Mushroom chickpea greens soup.
What are you cooking up this fall?
Golden gorgeous Homemade Laksa Curry paste.
Add veggies of choice to this filling and warming Laksa soup.
Vegan Laksa - Malaysian Curry Laksa Soup Recipe
Ingredients
Laksa Paste:
- 2 tsp coriander seeds
- 1/2 tsp fennel or cumin seeds
- 1 inch fresh turmeric root, peeled if needed(or use 1 tsp or more ground turmeric)
- 1 inch fresh ginger root, peeled if needed
- 1 green chile
- 1/2 tsp cayenne , or use paprika + cayenne
- 1 stalk lemongrass
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 2 tbsp raw cashews, soaked for 15 mins, use almonds or pepitas for cashew-free
- a good handful of cilantro with tender stems
- 1 tsp lime juice
Laksa Curry Soup:
- 1 tsp oil
- Laksa curry paste from above
- 2 cups sliced white mushrooms
- 3/4 cup sliced carrots
- 1/2 to 1 cup other veggies of choice, sliced or chopped small, such as bell peppers, zucchini, broccoli etc
- 3 cups veggie broth or water
- 13.5 oz can coconut milk, about 1.5 cups
- 6 to 8 oz brown rice noodles, uncooked
- 1 cup of chopped spinach , or chard
- salt and cayenne to taste
- sugar or sweetener if needed
- cilantro, mint for garnish
Instructions
Make the paste:
- Toast the coriander and fennel seeds for 2 to 3 minutes or until fragrant. Add to a blender or spice grinder and grind to a coarse mixture.
- Add the rest of the ingredients to a blender or food processor and blend until pasty. Add a tbsp or so water if needed. The paste can be refrigerated for upto a week and frozen for longer..
Make the soup:
- Heat oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add all of the curry paste (1/3 to 1/2 cup) and fry for 3 minutes. Stir occasionally. If using premade paste, use a 1/3 cup.
- Add the mushrooms and cook for 2 minutes.
- Add the veggies, broth and coconut milk and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low. Add in the rice noodles and let the mixture simmer for 10 minutes.
- Fold in the spinach and chard. Taste and adjust salt and heat. I usually add a bit of salt or soy sauce, lime juice and some sugar at this point. Add more coconut milk if needed. Simmer for another few minutes. Garnish with fresh cilantro, mint, bean sprouts or crisped tofu and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Reading for the week:
Most elephants that are rescued from circus, entertainment, logging, begging industries, never had the chance to form friendships — living in chains, often alone, deprives them of the simple joy of bonding with other elephants. These elephants develop deep bonds at the rescue centers at Wildlife SOS. Find out how you can support the expansion of the conservation center and the road to rescuing India’s elephants here.
This article on how what we choose to eat is affecting the planet. A comprehensive study that analyzed the “cradle-to-grave” carbon footprint (emissions generated before and after the food leaves the farm), lists the numbers – lamb generates 86.4 pounds of CO2 per kilogram eaten, beef creates 59.6 pounds, cheese produces 29.7 pounds, while lentils (1.98 pounds), broccoli (4.4 pounds) and tomatoes (2.42 pounds). Also this video.
More than 43 million gallons of excess of milk got dumped this year in 2016, in fields, manure lagoons or animal feed. That is enough milk to fill 66 Olympic swimming pools, and the most wasted in at least 16 years of data requested by The Wall Street Journal. Why? Because the demand is falling, supply isnt.
A Cow’s Life – Draw my Life animation
Tried this and it was so so good! Will be making this again!!
awesome!
Really enjoyed this recipe! It was quite simple and pretty quick to make. I subbed lemon zest for the lemongrass because I couldn’t find any at Whole Foods. I also added 3 tbsp of hemp seeds to the paste and blended it in for more protein. For vegetables I kept it simple with carrots, zucchini, and bell pepper along with the mushrooms and spinach. I didn’t use vegetable broth, so I added in about 1 3/4 tsp of salt. That seemed to be JUST right!
Thank you for sharing!
awesme!
I made this recipe for meatless Monday and I loved it. I didn’t have wheat grass though so I didn’t use it and I made my own coconut milk. Also used cumin powder instead of seeds and it was the bomb! Thank you.
awesome!
This soup is easy to make and delicious. I definitely will be making this regularly.
Thank you for sharing with us.
thanks!
Hi Richa!
I love trying your recipes!
Do I have to do anything to the lemongrass stalk? Or just use it whole? I’ve never cooked with lemongrass before.
This was DELICIOUS, I double the recipe and added lots of bok choy, kale, topped with bean sprouts. Perfect amount of heat for me as well. Will definitely be making this on the regular — easy to make up the paste in large batches and keep in the freezer as well 😊
yay!
What a great idea to make up batches of the paste and keep it in the freezer! Would make for easy dinners in the future. I am blown away by just how delicious this soup is and to think it is good for us too!
Not sure what happened as i closely followed the recipe but my paste came out green and tasting more like green curry paste. Looked nothing like the featured photos 🙁
oh no, I am guessing turmeric was not enough or more cilantro made it more green. That’s ok and I hope you liked what you made! Green curry is a great flavor too 🙂
It was still lovely 🙂
John, mine turned out green too but when I made the soup, the soup was the same color as in her pictures. So delicious too!
This is truly delicious. I made the paste with a mortar and pestle as my blender is quite big — made it more authentic!! 😂😂 As an ex-Malaysian living in Australia, this is super authentic tasting and the best laksa I’ve had, even compared to the shop ones. Thank you so much.
This was wonderful and flavoursome, the noodles soaked up much of the liquid so was more like a thick stew. I will half the noodles next time and add more veggies! Thank you for such a yummy healthy vegan laksa, will definitely go on our regular dinner list!
Awesome! you can add more coconut milk when reheating.
The soup was delicious, but turned out more like a stew, extremely thick, noodles absorbed all the liquid and thickened what remained. It was still amazing though!
Maybe the type of noodles absorb more. Add more water and heat up a bit.