Doing the Laksa

I’M STILL REELING from my experimental cooking session today.

I make us a “Quick” Thick Chicken Laksa from a recipe My Good Lady located in some magazine or other.

The recipe states clearly that it’s to serve either 2 children or 1 adult; so, my reasoning says, just double up on the quantities for two adult. Simple, right?

Wrong!

For a start, the recipe calls for 1½ red chillies – doubled up, that’s 3. 3 whole chillies? Okay, I know it’s supposed to be a spicy dish, but 3 chillies, surely, will be fierce enough to blow our heads off?

Next item is 5cm of root ginger – doubled up, that 10cm. Nearly 4 inches. That really will make a heap of ginger!

Then the recipe calls for 100ml of chicken stock and ½ a tin of coconut milk – both to be doubled up; the plate is going to be awash with liquor at this rate. All right, I suppose a laksa is a sort of Malaysian soup but this, surely, is rather a lot?

I decide to make some adjustments.

I double up on some of the ingredients, and I keep to printed recipe – that’s to say, half quantities – on some of the others.

And I have to admit, the old nerves are getting a bit frayed by this time. I feel I’m flying without a safety net.

I serve up the resulting concoction on a bed of egg noodles and nervously take a sip… Much to the surprise of both of us it turns out to be rather delicious, with the balance between the sweet and the sour, the fiery spice and the creaminess just about perfect.

One to keep I think, although retaining my adjustments to the quantities.