Beads of sweat, difficulty breathing and a very full belly – these are the signs of a good bowl of vegan curry laksa 🍜.
Curry laksa is one of those noodle dishes I don’t mind eating on a hot and humid afternoon in Malaysia. The broth is spicy (especially if you have it with sambal), rich in coconut milk, and the long list of aromatics give it an incredibly complex depth of flavour – you’ll finish every last drop. My favourite part is biting into the juicy tofu puffs or taufu pok; they absorb all that delicious broth and burst with flavour in your mouth.
Ugh. 10/10.
How I Made Vegan Curry Laksa
The heart of a good curry laksa is the aromatics, which are already plant-based. It also contains belacan, which is a fermented shrimp paste used in many Malaysian dishes. It’s a bit pungent, but super flavourful. Without it, you can tell that something is a little off with the laksa.
To recreate a similar flavour, I used nori sheets and taucu. Nori sheets give it that fishy, ocean-like hint, the way shrimp would. Taucu is fermented bean paste, and it has a really strong umami flavour. This combination works well to replace belacan!
Notes 🗒
- You’ll often find both rice vermicelli noodles and yellow noodles in Curry Laksa, but you can sub one type of noodle for the other. I only had yellow noodles when I shot this recipe.
- I also recommend using king oyster mushrooms because they look more like shredded chicken, but any other kind of mushroom is good too. Again, I ran out of that kind of mushroom so I used shimeji mushrooms this time!
More noodle recipes to try:
If you made this recipe, do leave a comment and rating below because I love hearing your feedback. Make sure to tag me on Instagram @eatwkriss so that I can see your recreations!
Vegan Curry Laksa
Ingredients
Curry paste
- 4 lemongrass stalks (serai) chopped
- ½ thumb ginger
- ½ thumb galangal (lengkuas)
- 3 candlenut (buah keras)
- 3 dried chili
- 3 fresh chili
- 1 inch turmeric sub for powder
- 5 shallots
- 3 garlic cloves
- ½ nori sheet torn into pieces
- 1 tbsp taucu (fermented soy bean paste)
- water to blend
Curry soup
- 2 tbsp cooking oil
- 2-3 cups water
- 300 g king oyster mushrooms shredded
- 6 tofu puffs (tauhu pok) halved
- ½ cup coconut milk
- salt to taste
To serve
- 150 g yellow noodles
- 60 g rice vermicelli noodles (bee hoon) optional, sub for more yellow noodles
- 100 g beansprouts (taugeh)
- 80 g long beans cut into matchsticks
- lime
- vegan sambal
Instructions
- Soak dried chili in hot water for 15 minutes, then remove the seeds and discard the water. Soak the dried rice vermicelli noodles in water for 15 minutes.
- Add all the curry paste ingredients into a blender. Blend until completely smooth, you can add water if necessary.
- Prepare a medium pot with oil over medium heat. Cook the paste for 2-3 minutes until fragrant. Add in water and shredded mushrooms. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes.
- Remove the cooked mushrooms, then add in tofu puffs and coconut milk. Let simmer on low heat for 10 minutes, then until ready to serve. This will keep the soup really hot.
- Meanwhile, cook the noodles in another pot of boiling water. Blanch the beansprouts for 10 seconds, and the long beans for around 1 minute.
- In a bowl, add in your cooked noodles and pour in the hot curry soup. Top with vegetables, the mushrooms you removed earlier and tofu puffs. Serve immediately with a wedge of lime and sambal for extra spice.
Notes
- You’ll often find both rice vermicelli noodles and yellow noodles in Curry Laksa, but you can sub one type of noodle for the other. I only had yellow noodles when I shot this recipe.
- I also recommend using king oyster mushrooms because they look more like shredded chicken, but any other kind of mushroom is good too. Again, I ran out of that kind of mushroom so I used shimeji mushrooms this time!
Hi,
Thanks for sharing vegan recipes.
Just to clarify, in ur ig video u mentioned fresh chilli, but not in the written recipe. If fresh chilli is required, may i know the amount.
Thank you in advance.
Hi Kaveetha, you’ll need 3 fresh chilies 🙂
oh my LORDDD this was a bowl of heaven. when i went vegan i was initially so worried about not being able to enjoy my fav malaysian dishes but now i can rely on you 🙁 this was SO GOOOOOD tastes just like how my opah used to make it!!! i also replaced the mee kuning with bihun and it was *chef’s kiss* love this and love you!
ahhh im so glad you liked it! and so happy that you can finally enjoy some vegan malaysian food hehehe <3
Thanks For Sharing this amazing recipe. My family loved it. I will be sharing this recipe with my friends. Hope the will like it.
I’m glad to hear that! Hope your friends enjoy it too 🙂