Hot Smoked salmon and duck egg laksa

You could make this recipe a lot easier for yourself by buying pre made Laksa… but I decided to make it from scratch. The excess saves well in the fridge.

Ingredients.

 

 

For the Laksa paste.

5 stalks of Lemon grass (white bit only)

4-5 hot chilies (adjust amount to taste)

Ginger (about a palm sized piece)

1 tsp of shrimp paste (or a bit more if you are using shrimp sauce)

4-5 Shallots, peeled.

6 cloves of garlic

5-6 tablespoons of Peanut oil.

½ cup of coriander

1 tsp Turmeric ground.

2 tsp sugar

¼  Cup of Tamarind paste

3 Kaffir lime leaves 

For the Laksa broth.

Approximately 1 generous Cup of Laksa Paste

4 Tablespoons of Peanut oil

2 Cups Chicken Stock

2 Cups home made Vegetable Stock*

1 can of Coconut Cream.

¼ cup of Fish sauce.

½ cup of basil

½ cup of coriander

For the Salmon

1 or 2 salmon tails – dependant on size

Salt

Pepper

Brown sugar

Grappa (or other white spirit).

1 x Duck egg per serving. My duck eggs are from the Oratia farmers market.

* For the Vegetable stock…. My wife’s Maori side means that I am not allowed to waste anything… so where you freezer may be full of food…mines full of food scraps. Chicken and duck bones, bags of onion and garlic skins, vege off cuts you name it. Anyway for the stock you empty all of the bags out of the freezer into a stockpot, fill with water and simmer for a few hours…you can then freeze the stock in plastic pet food containers that I’m also not allowed to throw out.

Method:

Make the Laksa paste (or just open a packet)

Place lemongrass, chilies, garlic, shallots, shrimp paste and oil in a blender and blend well. Add the remaining paste ingredients and continue to blend until smooth. It doesn’t matter if there are stringy bits from the ginger and lemon grass as the can be strained out later.

Make the Laksa broth

In a pot fry about a cup of the above paste mixture in peanut oil until browned but not burnt. Add the stock, fish sauce, basil and coriander and bring to a simmer. Simmer for minimum of 15 mins then add the coconut cream. Strain before serving.

Meanwhile smoke the salmon.

I used salmon tails as they are cheap from the fishmarket. Split the salmon off the backbone removing as many bones as possible. Season well with salt and pepper and cover the flesh with brown sugar and Grappa. I don’t want the smoke to bee too dominant so I smoke the salmon on tinfoil, and also put the smoking tray in my portable smoker on rocks to raise the tray up in the smoker, lowering the cooking temperature.

Boil the duck eggs leaving the yolks runny (approx 5 mins), peal the eggs.

To assemble.

Flake the salmon off the skin removing any remaining bones.

In a warmed bowl make little doughnut shaped piles of salmon, place the peeled eggs in The middle of the salmon cutting off the top to expose the yolk.

Carefully poor in the strained Laksa broth, until it nearly reaches the top of the Salmon.

Garnish with spring onion and coriander.

For a larger meal add fresh noodles.

Thanks to "jamesd" for this recipe.