Monday, May 25, 2009

Assam Laksa Penang

Penang island or Pearl of Orient, a beautiful island situated at north of West Malaysia. A beautiful island for relaxation and a place for food lovers. It is a place where we can find plentiful of delicacies and one of which is Assam Laksa. Assam means sour flavour, thus the soup is sour in taste. A noodle that will whet your appetite by it's look and aroma. Agree it is colorful right there?

Assam Laksa Penang is a delightful dish which consist of "slippery" white rice noodle in fish n spicy soup and garnish with various types of leaves such as Peppermint leaves (a must) together with chopped lettuce, stripes of cucumber, chopped wild ginger bub and red onion rings. This dish must be complemented with "hae-ko" or shrimp sticky paste, to add extra flavour to the Assam Laksa. My home cook version is red-orangy colour whereas the commercial ones are close to brownish-orangy color (trade secret and not so healthy for frequent consumption). Okay, here is for me to share for those who miss home food...


These are the ingredients required to boil the flavorful soup. The fish stock are made from either fish like kembong or selar or sardine (mackerel). The cooked fish meat are debone for garnishing on the Assam Laksa together with the various types of vegetables as shown in the picture above.




All you need : Serve 5-6


    To make Laksa soup
  • 2 kg fish - ikan selar or ikan kembong or mackerel for the fish stock
    To blend together and added into the fish stock
  • 10 red chillies & 1 Tbs chilly paste
  • 5 big onions
  • 4 cm length lengkuas (galangal)
  • 4 pcs lemon grass
  • 3 cm length fresh tumeric
  • 4 cm length belacan (dried shrimp paste)

2 sprig of laksa leaves (daun kesum), 2 Tbs tamarind paste and 2 wild ginger bub (bunga kantan) plus all the varities of vegetables for garnishing.

Simple Process :

  1. Boil the fish in about 3 litre water for 20 minutes
  2. Dish out the fish and to debone and set aside the fish meat
  3. Filter the fish stock, add in the grounded paste (rempah) and add in the laksa leaves (daun kesum), wild ginger bub (bunga kantan) stems, 2 Tbs tamarind paste and let the soup boil for next 30 minutes over medium heat
  4. Add in half of the fish meat into the soup

Serving Assam Laksa Penang

Blanch the laksa rice noodle (fat version)

Garnish with the various cut vegetables, bunga kantan, cut chillies, fish meat

Fill wiith Hot Soup and 1 spoonful of "hae-ko" (shrimp paste)

Happy Trying this "Fuss" Meal :))

2 comments:

  1. What an authentic dish, thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi there...have fun trying it out, cheers

    ReplyDelete