Chicken laksa

Author: Chrissy Freer - B App Sc Nut, Grad Cert Human Nut

Photographer: Mark O'Meara

First published: Jul 2015

This dairy-free chicken laksa is full of flavour and can easily be made gluten free.

Serves: 4

Time to make: 30 mins

Total cost: $25.00 / $6.25 per serve

(at time of publication)

Ingredients

More weights & measures

200g vermicelli noodles
olive spray oil
1 large onion, thinly sliced
1 ½ tablespoons laksa paste
500g chicken breast fillets, sliced
2 cups reduced-salt chicken stock
165ml can reduced-fat coconut milk (we used Trident)
2 teaspoons fish sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
2 kaffir lime leaves
3cm piece fresh ginger, peeled, thinly sliced
1 large carrot, peeled, thinly sliced diagonally
4 cups bok choy, trimmed, leaves separated, reserved
150g snow peas, trimmed, halved
lime juice, to taste
1 ½ cups bean sprouts

Instructions

1 Put vermicelli noodles in a large heatproof bowl, cover with boiling water and leave to soak for 3 minutes. Drain and set aside.

2 Spray a large wok (or saucepan) with olive oil and set over medium heat. Add onion and stir until lightly golden. Add laksa paste and stir for 1–2 minutes, or until fragrant. Add chicken and cook, stirring, for 2-3 minutes, or until slightly golden. Add stock, coconut milk, fish sauce, sugar, lime leaves, sliced ginger and 2 cups water and stir well.

3 Increase heat to high and bring mixture to the boil. Add carrot to wok. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through. Add bok choy and snow peas and cook for 1 minute. Remove wok from heat and add lime juice to taste. 4 Divide reserved vermicelli noodles among 4 bowls. Ladle hot laksa over noodles, top with bean sprouts and serve.

Variations

Make it gluten free: Check laksa paste, noodles, stock and fish sauce are gluten free.

HFG tip

What we did…

Cut the fat: Laksa is usually made with coconut cream or milk, both of which are high in fat, particularly saturated fat. This recipe uses a smaller amount of reduced-fat coconut milk to cut saturated fat by 80 per cent.
Upped the vege: Laksa can be pretty light on veges, but this recipe delivers 2 serves.

Reduced the salt: Stock is surprisingly high in sodium, so traditional laksa can deliver half your recommended maximum daily limit for sodium. This recipe not only swaps regular stock for a reduced-salt variety, but also replaces half of this stock with water to lower the total sodium content.

	OUR VERSION (per serve)	ORIGINAL VERSION (per serve)
Energy	1780kJ / 425cal	2660kJ / 633cal
Protein	34g	31g
Total fat	8g	33g
Sat fat	4g	21g
Carbs	55g	55g
Sugars	9g	7g
Fibre	3g	2g
Sodium	680mg	1270mg
Calcium	80mg	50mg
Iron	3mg	3mg

Nutrition Info (per serve)

Calories 444cal

Kilojoules 1860kJ

Protein 33g

Total fat 8g

–Saturated fat 4g

Carbohydrates 60g

–Sugars 11g

Dietary fibre 5g

Sodium 780mg

Calcium 130mg

Iron 3mg

Note: This nutrition analysis is a guide only. Nutrition composition will vary depending on the exact ingredients used. See our guides on your optimal daily nutrition intake, and supermarket shopping.

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