Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Assam Laksa Anyone?

Going through my pantry and my inventory of Malaysian goodies, I stumbled upon a package of Assam Laksa mix. As I really really need to clear out my pantry to make room for my new supplies (via my in-laws), I decided to make that for dinner. It’s been probably a year or two since I had some Assam Laksa as I’m not a big fan of it somehow. Assam Laksa is a noodle soup with sour and spicy fish (Mackerel) broth. Assam means tamarind in Malay language and is used in the soup to give it some added sourness. AssamLaksaThe instructions on the back of the package called for ground onion, tamarind juice (did not specify amount), a large can of sardine, water and salt to taste. It was that simple, however upon following the instructions religiously………. the Assam Laksa broth was no where close to what it’s supposed to taste like.

I ended up adding lime juice, palm sugar and the much needed “he-ko” (shrimp paste, as shown below). I was pleasantly surprised I managed to concoct additional ingredients to achieve the right Assam Laksa taste! If the soup did not taste like Assam Laksa, I was planning to tell hubby it’s some spicy sardine noodle soup for dinner. Haha!AssamLaksa1Thank goodness the husband gave a thumbs up… no complaints what so ever! He said it was good!!Yay! My Assam Laksa would have been better if I used the real Laksa noodles instead of Spaghetti! Silly me, I thought I had a package of dried laksa noodles in the pantry..only to find out it was some other kind of vermicelli! Topped up the Assam Laksa with some onion slices, julienned cucumbers, pineapple chunks  and we have ourselves some good ol’ Penang Assam Laksa! And of course, I made a huge pot to last us 2-3 meals! =)AssamLaksa2

3 comments:

Charlene n Kevin said...

Looking good! My mom sent me the same kind of Laksa from TE. I havnt tried it yet, might do so soon. I was just wondering, what kind fo fish did you use? On the packet it says sardines rite? Did you use that? Also, where did you buy the "heh koh"? Can get in asian grocery shops?

Simply June said...

I read that they use mackerel in laksa. I used canned sardines with tomato sauce which I discard partially. I also used a can of tuna as I wanted more fish in it. I actually saw canned mackerel in tomato sauce in an asian grocer. I bought my heh koh from the m'sian store inside flushing mall. I also used a bit of lee kum kee's fine shrimp paste. good luck!

Anonymous said...

Hi June,
This is a great site. I was reading other wonderful recipes from your site and thought maybe I should share my laksa exp. I recently discovered that salmon (less fishy) is as good or better than mackerel. I boiled the boneless salmon (best deal at Costco) first and then remove it to smash it into smaller pieces. Then return it to the boiling water and then add the paste. It's really good. Try it.

Thanks.


Jas
California

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