Laksa Prawn Soup

Ingredients

Laksa paste:

2 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
2 red chillies
4 shallots, roughly chopped
1 stick lemongrass (discard outer layer)
3 cm piece of ginger
50 gm ground almonds
1 tbsp fish sauce

Soup:

Whole raw prawns
200 gm noodles
3 tbsp laksa paste (use above)
2 tbsp fish sauce
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp sugar
400 ml canned coconut milk
Coriander (fresh)
¼ cucumber, cut into strips

Directions

Blend the laksa paste ingredients using a processor to produce a rough-textured paste. You need 3 tbsp for this recipe, but the remainder will keep in the fridge for a couple of weeks.
Remove the heads and shells from the prawns, but leave the tails on.
Put the prawn shells and heads into a pan with 700ml water and leave to simmer for 30 mins to make a stock. Strain the prawn stock and get rid of the solids.
Heat the oil in a pan over a medium heat before frying the prawns for 2 minutes. Add 3 tablespoons of laksa paste and fry for a further 2 minutes.