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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
OMG! This is a restaurant quality dish! Maybe even better that that!
I’ve had your Everyday Kitchen cookbook for a few years yet I had never made this recipe. I doubled the paste and froze half (doubling made it easier to make the paste in my Vitamix). I had to simmer the rice noodles an extra five minutes because I live at an elevation of 7,000 feet. It thickened up and I didn’t want to open another can of coconut milk so I added some soy milk. I did “cheat” and used ground Coriander and Fennel because that’s what I had. I am writing this so I don’t go back for seconds and thirds…I want leftovers tomorrow. Served it with some warm naan and used it to wipe every ounce of soup out of my bowl. Thanks, Richa! Another winner!!
Haha love it! So glad you enjoy. Thank you for the kind comment, Nancy! 🙂
My paste was green and the final texture of the dish was thick like a stew. It turned out differently than expected but it was still a satisfying meal that I enjoyed. I included the fried tofu on top as suggested and that was a winner. Thanks!
Wonderful!
Lovely recipe and ideal for cold wintery days. It is so warming. I doubled the recipe for paste as I had all the ingredients to hand and froze half of it ready for another day.
Fantastic!
Hi, where is the link to the Laksa curry paste?
It’s all of the ingredients listed “Laksa Paste”. made first before the soup
My son and I made
this from your cookbook last weekend and both agree it is the best curry soup we have ever had! Better than any restaurant. We couldn’t get enough of
it! Next time I would like to double the curry paste to use in other recipes. Does it double easily? Thanks, Keren
Absolutely
Loved this!! It was so flavorful, comforting, and absolutely delicious.
so happy to hear
This recipe is amazing!! Better than any restaurant. We couldn’t get enough of it and are excited to make more curries from your cookbook. Thank you!!
Yay
I finally got around to making this tonight and i’d like to share a couple of things. I ended up using a full 8 ounce container of mushrooms. It was just easier than measuring them out and having some left over. I also used swiss chard instead of spinach and mistakenly added them when i added the carrots and broccoli but it turned out fine. Also, i recommend breaking the noodles in half or thirds for easy serving and eating. I did not add any sugar, soy sauce or tofu.
And the recipe did not specify using light or full fat coconut milk. I used full fat. I wonder if the coconut milk would have mixed together in the heat of the pot all by itself. I was not sure so i got out my blender and blended it smooth before adding it to the pot.
In the end, this was the most delicious thing i have ever made. I almost ate the entire pot all by myself. Thank you for this wonderful recipe!
I am making the paste now and am having difficulty. It is really not a paste but a chunky mixture. I put the ingredients in my small food processor and all it did was chop, not become a paste. So I took it out of the food processor and put it in my Vitamix, thinking surely, that would take things from distinct pieces and turn it into a paste. Well the quantity of the mass was so small, the contents would not connect with the blades. I don’t know how to get this to emulsify and bind together to become a paste. I even took a picture of it to show you in the hopes that you might have some suggestions. How do you get your ingredients to bind together into an emulsified and smooth paste?. I wish you would post a picture of your paste so we can get an idea of what it is supposed to look like.
I use a small blender like nutribullet. You can also use a mortar and pestle. Or you can just mince everything and mix and use
I ended up adding water to the mixture, about a tablespoon and a half and put it back in my small cuisinart. It it more paste-like now. A small nutribullet would be perfect for this, I agree. Unfortunately, that is the one piece of kitchen equipment I don’t have.
I was wondering what the paste should smell like. Mine smells like freshly mowed grass.
Thanks so much for being so helpful and responsive.
Lemongrass and ginger might make it smell that way. Once cooked the flavors will be more spiced and zesty
I’m getting ready to make this for the first time. What sort of green chilies do you use? I need to get the heat right!
Serrano, Thai or Indian. Or use milder if you like.
This recipe is essential in our kitchen. Thank you Richa for making world stunningly tastafel place! We crushed to your site after one amazing but exhausty day and all we needed was a bowl of laksa. We didnt have any idea, but as the first one (great SEO, btw) we found you. It became on of the very favourite recipes at all. This bowl of laksa is a bowl of spicy warm love punch. It changes ones life 🙂
thanks for popping in ♡
I made this , and it was soo tasty 😊👍👌