The perfect jammy egg
If you don’t like eggs, by all means have without. To get the desired jammy egg I have found the perfect cooking time to be 6 1/2 minutes. That will give you cooked-through egg whites and jammy yolks, but if you want the yolk a little runnier, just pull them out of the water 30 seconds earlier.

My tried and tested technique is to lower the eggs into a pan of gently boiling water. Set a timer and as soon as they’re done remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and dunk in ice water to stop the cooking process and also conveniently makes them cool enough to peel.

Salmon
Skinless v Skin on
To be honest the method is really the same - with skin on salmon you will just begin by frying the skin side first to ensure it gets nice and crispy - I would sprinkle with skin with a little Maldon salt prior to cooking . But the cooking time will be the same. In all honestly I tend to always use skin on salmon as I love the crispy skin, but here I just felt with the soup having it skinless would make it a bit easier to eat. If you wish to remove the skin from the salmon, you have two options, maybe a third if you get the fishmonger to take it off for you. Cook it with the skin - get it nice and crispy and then once cooked, it’s very easy to peel off. Or you can remove it prior to cooking, a job I actually love to do as it makes me feel as though I have excellent knife skills, although I really don’t. Simply place the fish skin side down on a chopping board - take a sharp knife and wiggle it in under the skin. Then keeping the knife at an angle and wedged between the fish and the skin, hold on to the skin with one hand and then just wiggle the knife along the fish until you get to the other end. It’s a knack but it’s actually very simple. And very satisfying.

Laksa
Whilst this isn’t strictly a laksa, it’s just an homage to one I thought I would explain in case you aren’t familiar with laksa. There are many types of laksa with a whole range of regional variations with a combination of both, but most often, you can find:

• Curry: is primarily a coconut milk-based laksa noodle soup with curry powder
• Asam: is a sour, tangy spicy noodle soup which is flavoured primarily with tamarind paste

I love the coconut milk based ones so this is the paste I use when I have a little more time and want to make it from scratch.

Laksa Paste:

6 dried thai chilies, soaked in boiling water for 10 minutes

5 Garlic cloves

3 inch Ginger, peeled

1 Lime both the zest and juice

6-8 Cashew nuts

1 tbsp Sambal Chili Paste

2 tbsp vegetable oil

2 Shallots, roughly chopped

To make paste, simply drain the water from the dried chillies and then tip the chillies into a food processor along with all the other ingredients and blend until smooth. And you’re good to go!

Noodles
Any noodles will work in this recipe. Rice noodles, vermicelli noodles, egg noodles, udon noodles…use what you have and what you like the most.

Other topping ideas
Crispy tofu, sliced mushrooms cooked in the broth, broccoli, crispy onions, prawns, bean sprouts, coriander, mint, deep fried tofu puffs (get them from Chinese supermarkets), chicken, chopped fresh chilli, chopped peanuts, julienned cucumbers. Whatever greens you have to hand. All these toppings would work well, all delicious.

Can I make this butter free?
Of course, to make this dish lighter, you don’t have to baste the salmon in the butter. Coconut oil would make a lovely alternative and you’d do it in a similar way. Or you could gently fry the chilli in a little light oil, and then once the salmon is cooked drizzle this over and add the lime and spring onions as a sort of dressing / marinade after the fact.