Monday, November 1, 2010

Penang Assam Laksa


Assam laksa is one of Penang's famous street food. The silky smooth rice noodle in hot and spicy fish soup is garnished with lots of fresh veggies and served with prawn paste as condiment. The contribution of mint leaves, ginger bud, laksa leaves, pineapple, lemon grass, tamarind juice, belacan, onion and cucumber gives the assam laksa a distinctive flavor. It's pungent, sweet, sour and spicy. It's mouth-watering indeed. Gosh, I'm addicted!

I'm sharing the dish with Presto Pasta Nights #188, which is hosted by Ruth from Once Upon A Feast.

Penang Assam Laksa
serves 4-5

Ingredients:
1kg fresh laksa noodle
5 mackerel fish, gutted and cleaned
a ping pong ball sized of tamarind, mixed with 200ml water, strained and retain the juice
3 tbsp of chili paste

(A)
2 liter water
15 sprigs of laksa leaves
half ginger bud, sliced into 4
3 stalk of lemon grass (the white portion), lightly smashed with the back of clever knife
                                   2 onions and 1.5cm cube of belacan, blended
Seasonings
brown sugar
salt

Garnishing
mint leaves
half bunga kantan, chopped
1 cucumber, cut into strips
quarter of a small pineapple, peeled and cut into steps
1 1/2 tbsp of shrimp paste diluted with 2 tbsp of hot water

Steps:
1. Put ingredient (A) in a pot. Bring to a low simmering boil for 2 minutes. Continue to simmer for 5 minutes. Add the mackerel fish and bring to boil for 10 minutes or until cooked.
2. Remove the fish from the soup and leave it cool. Then flake the fish, break into pieces and return to the soup. 
3. Add chili paste and sieve in the tamarind juice and leave it simmers under low heat. 
4. Flake the fish, break the flesh into pieces and return to the soup. 
5. Add seasoning to taste. Continue to simmer for 1-2 minutes.
6.To serve, put a handful of laksa noodles in a metal strainer and immerse in a pot of boiling water to scald the noodles for half a minute. Drain and put into a bowl. Add a little of each garnish. Pour laksa soup over the noodle and garnish. Drizzle a little prawn paste over and serve hot.

29 comments:

Babe_KL said...

So hungry now, can I have a bowl please?

TasteHongKong said...

Yours Assam Laksa looks more colorful than those I tried in Penang.
Is it very common to have mackerel fishes in it? I doubt if I have them in the Assam Laksa before : ) : (.

chow and chatter said...

looks delicious love fish soup yum

WendyinKK said...

I super love assam laksa and I definately finish up the soup to the last drop.

Little Inbox said...

babe_kl, sure, can. :)

TasteHongKong, yes normally fish flesh is mashed and add to the soup. Some stalls add very little amount of fish, so if you may not notice the existence.

Rebecca, this is really appetizing. :)

wendy, me too. :) My mum will stop me of doing so if dine out or take away, but home cook sure no problem.

ann low said...

I love Penang Assam Laksa very much and can I come over to try this delicious meal?

MODERN ROBINSON CRUSOE said...

Oh miss Penang Assam Laksa

-j- said...

omg sounds complicated!!!

Little Inbox said...

Anncoo, sure, no problem. :)

MRC, then when are you going to come back to Penang?

Duckie, it sounds complicated, but once you know the steps, then you'll feel that it's pretty straight forward.

pigpigscorner said...

Love assam laksa! So spicy, sour and tasty!

Noob Cook said...

love assam laksa! Your one-dish noodles are all slurplicious :)

tigerfish said...

I agree with TasteHongKong. Much more colorful and filled with more ingredients than Penang Assam Laksa I have tried before.

Deborah said...

What a gorgeous soup!

Xiaolu @ 6 Bittersweets said...

Mmm delicious! I've heard so much about laksa but can't believe I've yet to try it. Gotta whip this up sometime for sure.

daphne said...

argh, i havent had a bowl of decent penang assam laksa for years! (prob the last time was when i visited penang!). U r sooo brave to try out this lovely dish!

Little Inbox said...

pigpigscorner, yes it is so appetizing!

noobcook, oh, thank you! :P

tigerfish, this is the benefits of home cooked meal, more ingredients in it. :)

Little Inbox said...

Deborah, oh, thanks.

Xiaolu, thanks for dropping by. Free free to give it a try, and I hope you'll like it too.

daphne, in fact I started cooking laksa since 3 years back, but not so frequent.

Anonymous said...

looks superb....anyway it's a tedious work and needs lot of patience ya,

mycookinghut said...

I don't mind a few serving of this ;)

Anonymous said...

Ooh...a bowl for me please :)

Little Inbox said...

Simple Girl, the most tedious process is de-bone the fish. The rest are okay.

mycookinghut, LOL, so I made you drool with this laksa too?

Mei Teng, okay, sure! :)

yd said...

Slurpppp!! Love Assam Laksa. May I have seconds please?

choi yen said...

I want mine with lots o fish meat :P

Joanne said...

I love dishes that combine different parts of the taste buds in their experience. This looks like a winner!

Little Inbox said...

yd, oh, sure! :)

choi yen, I added lots of fish to the soup.

Joanne, thanks.

MaryMoh said...

Thanks very much for dropping by while I was away. Love assam laksa. It's very appetising and delicious. Your picture makes me drool :)

Ruth Daniels said...

It's blustry here in Halifax and your assam laksa will definitely keep me warm. Thanks for sharing with Presto Pasta Nights.

Pei-Lin said...

I myself have been a big, big fan of Penang assam laksa! Every time I have it, I'd wipe the bowl clean. The soup is VERY addictive, like what you said. But, I'd almost always end up with runny nose and tears with each serving of the famous dish! Definitely my fave type of laksa! Haha!

Mina Tan said...

Yummy, I loves Asam laksa so much!!!

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