Adventures of Cumbrian Blondie

This is a delicious supper and quite to make. 

Ingredients  

1½ tbsp rapeseed oil 
1 x 400ml tin coconut milk

750ml hot chicken stock

1 tbsp soft light brown sugar

3 nests (175g) dried rice noodles

1 x 600g bag frozen raw shell-on jumbo king prawns, defrosted and peeled 

2 tbsp Thai fish sauce

1 x 225g tin sliced bamboo shoots, drained

100g fresh beansprouts

5cm piece cucumber, deseeded and cut into thin matchsticks

2 spring onions, trimmed, halved and finely shredded

1 x 31g pack coriander, leaves only

1 small red chilli, thinly sliced

lime wedges, to serve

For the curry paste

3 large dried red chillies, deseeded 

1 large red chilli, deseeded

1 tsp Thai shrimp paste

2 lemongrass stalks, core chopped

15g unsalted cashew nuts

3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped

25g piece peeled root ginger, roughly chopped

1½ tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground turmeric

75g shallots, roughly chopped

1½ tbsp sunflower oil

Method

For the curry paste, cover the dried chillies in hot water and leave to soak for 30 minutes or until soft; drain well. In a mini food processor, blend all the curry paste ingredients to a smooth paste, adding a tiny splash of water to get the mixture moving if necessary. Bring a pan of salted water to the boil for the noodles.

Heat the oil in a large nonstick pan, add the curry paste and fry gently for 3 minutes, stirring, until fragrant. Add the coconut milk, stock and sugar, and simmer for 5 minutes.

Drop the noodles into the boiling water and cook for 2 minutes; drain.

Add the prawns, fish sauce and bamboo shoots to the laksa; simmer for 3-4 minutes until the prawns are cooked. Season with salt if necessary.

Divide the noodles between 4 deep bowls, ladle over the laksa and garnish with the beansprouts, cucumber, spring onions, coriander and sliced chilli. Serve with the lime wedges.