Laksa

Laksa is a spicy noodle soup eaten in Singapore and Malaysia. It belongs to Nyonya, or Peranakan, cuisine, the food of Chinese settlers in Malacca and the Straits. Laksa can be coconutty and shrimpy, as in Singapore, or sour and fishy with tamarind, as in Penang, so there is no single recipe.

The name is debated. Singapore's National Heritage Board says it may come from the Hindi lakshah, a kind of noodle, or from Sanskrit. A Malaysian cultural mapping portal adds that the Sanskrit word means 'ten thousand', a nod to the many ingredients in the bowl.

The history is tied to the fifteenth century. According to the Singapore source, Chinese immigrants who arrived in Malacca and later in the Straits Settlements combined local spices with Chinese cooking methods and created Nyonya dishes, laksa among them. The Malaysian source says traders brought laksa to Malaya around the fifteenth century, and that Chinese traders who married Malay women changed the plain broth to local taste.

Singapore laksa has coconut milk, dried shrimp, fishcake and prawns, with sambal chilli and laksa leaves. It is usually served with thick rice noodles, and rice vermicelli is used less often. The broth should be neither too thick nor too watery. Many laksa stalls are in Katong, a former Peranakan centre, and the dish was inscribed on Singapore's intangible cultural heritage inventory in March 2019 (ICH-070).

Penang laksa is different: a broth of fish such as sardines, selayang or mackerel, with dried chilli, tamarind, red onions, lemongrass, torch ginger and laksa leaves. The noodles may be wheat or rice. It comes with bird's eye chilli, lime, pineapple, mint, cucumber, eggs and shrimp paste (petis).

Why it matters to you. 'Laksa' on a menu says little about the taste: it can be a creamy coconut bowl or a sour fish one. Ask which kind it is: the Singapore version brings shrimp and coconut milk, while in Penang fish and tamarind decide the flavour.