DETAILS
- Serves 4
- Prep 15 mins
- Cooking 25 mins
INGREDIENTS
- 150g cauliflower (mixed varieties if possible, e.g. Romanesco and sweet stemmed), broken into florets
- 150g purple sprouting broccoli, sliced into bite-sized stems
- 150g green sprouting broccoli, sliced into bite-sized stems
- 100g bean sprouts
- 100g udon noodles
- 50g toasted peanuts, roughly chopped
For the laksa sauce:
- 4 sticks of lemongrass, roughly chopped
- 2 banana shallots, roughly chopped
- 60g fresh root ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, peeled
- groundnut or sunflower oil, for frying
- 6 dried chillies
- 1 tsp coriander seeds
- 3 x 400ml cans coconut milk
METHOD
- To make the paste for the laksa sauce, blitz the lemongrass in a blender until very finely chopped. Then add the shallots, ginger and garlic along with 1–2 tablespoons of water. Blitz until you have a smooth paste, adding more water if necessary.
- In a large frying pan, heat a splash of oil. Fry the chillies and coriander seeds for a moment, then add half of the paste (reserve or freeze the other half) and fry for about 3 minutes, stirring all the time to prevent it from catching and burning. Add the coconut milk and simmer for about 10 minutes. This step can be done in advance.
- Place a large pan of salted boiling water on a high heat. Separately blanch each vegetable for 2 minutes and immediately plunge into ice-cold water.
- Cook the noodles according to packet instructions and rinse under cold water to prevent them from cooking any further.
- When ready to serve, tip all of the vegetables and noodles into the pan of boiling water to heat up. Bring the sauce to the boil. Drain the vegetables and noodles, arrange on plates and pour the laksa all over. Garnish with the toasted peanuts and serve immediately.
Cook’s tips
You can cook the vegetables in the laksa broth, if you wish.
This stifado is all vegan, but if you’re serving it with tzatziki make sure you mix your own using a dairy-free yogurt.
Recipe created by Kathryn Bruton, @kathryn_bruton.
Photography by Catherine Frawley @catherine_frawley