With the new series of Mad Men just beginning, it seems like an excellent time to tell you about a recipe book I’ve inherited from my maternal grandmother. Published in 1951, the YWCA Cookery Book of Malaya is an amazing insight into advertising during that period. I often wonder if any of the shops listed are still in there in Singapore.

Anyway, since visiting Tampopo restaurant I’ve wanted to learn how to make my own laksa, a kind of curry spiced soup with noodles. Laksa originally refers to the noodles used, but over time has come to mean the soup. I took this recipe from the book, although I’ve tweaked it a fair bit; firstly the asian ingredients were listed with their malaysian names and it calls for “5 cents worth of shrimp paste” and a tahil (a chinese measurement) of beansprouts. It’s still fabulously tasty but just modernised a little.

{Serves 4}

Ingredients

For the paste

• 20g peanuts
• 1tbsp shrimp paste
• 1tsp turmeric
• 10 thai shallots
• 2 cloves garlic
• 3tsp dried chillies
• 1inch galangal
• 2 sticks fresh lemongrass
• 4tbsp oil

For the soup

• 200g king prawns
• 800ml coconut milk
• 40g beansprouts
• 60g medium egg noodles
• 1 large red chilli
• A small handful of mint leaves
• ½ cucumber
• ½ lime

Ingredients

1. Finely chop all the paste ingredients (apart from the oil!). I use one of these classic choppers and it reduces chopping time to just a few minutes.
2. Take the cucumber and chop in half width ways, then cut into thin batons. Top and tail the fresh chilli and cut into rings.
3. Heat the oil in a wok until very hot, then fry the paste ingredients for 3-4 minutes, then stir in the coconut milk. Leave to simmer for 10 minutes.
4. While the laksa is cooking, cook the noodles in a separate pan according to the instructions.
5. When the laksa is done, add in the noodles, prawns and beansprouts and cook for a further 3 minutes.
6. Add in the cucumber and fresh chilli, then serve. Shred a little mint onto the top, but not too much, then add a squeeze of lime juice.