Mumbai:
Ingredients
250 gm pumpkin, unpeeled
5 small red bird’s eye chillies
4 cloves garlic
A piece of ginger
2 plump stalks lemon grass
6 lime leaves
5 or 6 coriander roots
A handful of coriander leaves
1 tbsp vegetable oil
500 ml chicken or vegetable stock
400 ml coconut milk
24 cherry tomatoes
2 tbsp Thai fish sauce (optional)
Juice of half a lemon
100 gm dried noodles cooked as it says on the packet
Mint leaves a large handful
Method
Cut the pumpkin into large chunks and place in the top of a steamer. The pumpkin should be tender in 12-15 minutes. Remove from the heat.
Chop the chillies, removing the seeds first if you wish, peel the garlic and ginger and chop roughly. Put them all into a food processor. Discard the outer leaves of the lemon grass and roughly chop the inner leaves, shred the lime leaves, then add them to the chillies. Scrub the coriander roots and add them to the chillies, along with half the coriander leaves and stems. Blitz them to a pulp, adding a little vegetable oil if the mixture needs it to go round.
Place a fairly deep pan over a moderate heat, add half the spice paste (keep the other half in the fridge for tomorrow) and fry it, moving it round the pan so it does not scorch. Do this for 1-2 minutes, then pour in the stock and coconut milk and bring to the boil.
Cut the tomatoes in half and add them to the soup with the fish sauce and lemon juice. They will take 7-10 minutes to cook. Add the chunks of pumpkin and continue cooking for a minute or two.
Place a swirl of cooked noodles in each of four bowls, pour over the laksa and add the mint and the remaining coriander leaves.