Katong laksa is a variant of

laksa Laksa is a spicy noodle dish popular in Southeast Asia. Laksa consists of various types of noodles, most commonly thick rice noodles, with toppings such as chicken, prawn or fish. Most variations of laksa are prepared with a rich and spicy coco ...

lemak inspired by the

Peranakans The Peranakans () are an ethnic group defined by their genealogical descent from the first waves of Southern Chinese settlers to maritime Southeast Asia, known as Nanyang (), namely the British Colonial ruled ports in the Malay Peninsula, ...

who live in the precinct of

Katong Katong, also known as Tanjong Katong, is a residential neighbourhood in the eastern portion of the Central Region of Singapore, within the Marine Parade planning area. It used to be located by the sea, before land reclamation towards the south ...

in Singapore. It has an orangey-yellow colour spicy soup stock, flavoured with

coconut milk Coconut milk is an opaque, milky-white liquid extracted from the grated pulp of mature coconuts. The opacity and rich taste of coconut milk are due to its high oil content, most of which is saturated fat. Coconut milk is a traditional food ...

and dried

shrimp Shrimp are crustaceans (a form of shellfish) with elongated bodies and a primarily swimming mode of locomotion – most commonly Caridea and Dendrobranchiata of the decapod order, although some crustaceans outside of this order are ref ...

, topped with ingredients like cockles,

prawns Prawn is a common name for small aquatic crustaceans with an exoskeleton and ten legs (which is a member of the order decapoda), some of which can be eaten. The term "prawn"Mortenson, Philip B (2010''This is not a weasel: a close look at nature ...

and fishcake. The noodles are normally cut up into smaller pieces so that the entire dish can be eaten with a spoon alone, without

chopsticks Chopsticks ( or ; Pinyin: ''kuaizi'' or ''zhu'') are shaped pairs of equal-length sticks of Chinese origin that have been used as kitchen and eating utensils in most of East and Southeast Asia for over three millennia. They are held in the ...

or a fork.

Origin

The term "laksa" may have derived from the Chinese word 辣沙 (Cantonese: àːt.sáː, meaning "spicy sand" due to the ground dried prawns which give a sandy or gritty texture to the sauce. The name "katong" was used to refer to an exotic species of

sea turtle Sea turtles (superfamily Chelonioidea), sometimes called marine turtles, are reptiles of the order Testudines and of the suborder Cryptodira. The seven existing species of sea turtles are the flatback, green, hawksbill, leatherback, loggerhe ...

that has since gone extinct. It can also mean the rippling effect of the sea

mirage A mirage is a naturally-occurring optical phenomenon in which light rays bend via refraction to produce a displaced image of distant objects or the sky. The word comes to English via the French ''(se) mirer'', from the Latin ''mirari'', meanin ...

when looking at a shoreline.

is a residential precinct located in the estate of

Marine Parade Marine Parade is a planning area and residential estate located in the Central Region of Singapore. Straddling the tip of the southeastern coast of Pulau Ujong, Marine Parade serves as a buffer between the Central and East regions of the ci ...

in central Singapore. Katong laksa was so named due to its origins in the area. The dish was first popularised by brothers Ng Juat Swee and Ng Chwee Seng, who started selling the noodles in a coffee shop along East Coast Road in 1963. Four rivals had popped up along the same stretch of East Coast Road by 1999, and many of them had names with “Katong laksa” in it.

References

{{Singaporean cuisine, state=collapsed Singaporean noodle dishes

Origin

See also

References