Saturday 2 February 2013

Laksa Perak

Wahh I only wrote a few entries in January? Well, maybe it was exam fever that avoiding me to do so. I've merely nothing to share at the moment, but I feel like writing something. Hence, lets talk about my LAKSA project.

It has been a while I crave for laksa. What is laksa by the way? Laksa is one of the best traditional malay cuisine which is more popular in Penang. It seems to have quite a variety of laksa in Malaysia. Laksa made in  Johor, Sarawak, Terengganu, and Kedah may differ to each other in term of taste, ingredients and serving. For example, laksa Johor is served with spaghetti instead of the usual white rice noodle. This is because of diffusion of western and eastern food style. When British once invaded Tanah Melayu, Johor's culture has also been influenced by British's culture. The royal sultan who had British woman as his wife was served laksa with spaghetti. And that has influenced the local citizen to eat laksa that way. As for Penang and Kesah, they may share same laksa paste in their own recipes, but what differ both of them is the use of pineapple as topping. I'm not quite sure about the rest as I don't think I've eaten them. My mom only uses to prepare laksa penang, so, the recipe I'll be writing next is more like laksa johor or laksa penang.

Supposedly I  cooked laksa penang. I even wrote down my mom's recipe. So, I had been searching for white rice noodle at Brighton Halal Store and there was no stock left. Noting that, I changed my mind. If I still want to eat laksa, I need  to eat the soup with spaghetti. Hurm.... That means, I have to make laksa johor instead. I searched on google about how to make an easy laksa johor. It turns out that it's not an easy dish to make. Plus, there was no galangal and fresh prawns in the refrigerator and I was lazy to go out and buy it at the store.



Though it is lacking of must-have ingredients, I just follow what my mother has told. I blended dried chilies, spring onion, garlic, turmeric, ginger and lemon grass. Turned on the hob, and put together the paste and a litre of boiling water into the pot. Meanwhile, I blended the dried shrimps and tuna chunks and put into the pot after. I let them boil before adding ginger flower, laksa leaves and tamarind peel to extract the smell. It is as simple as that. To simmer the spaghetti, add a tablespoon of oil so that they are not sticking to each other.
My laksa was served with cucumber and lettuce slices. Though it is my first time preparing laksa, I think its appearance and taste is not too bad. Edible still. 

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