Assam laksa has been on my to-cook list for sometime. Hubs is not a fan and Amber obviously would not go near it.
3 weeks ago, I had some friends over for belated gong xi fa cai gathering, my friends from school and some friends from work.
I googled for assam laksa recipe and asked my good buddy EeLeen's mom, whose assam laksa we all crave for and can make a mad dash to her house for assam laksa lunch and back to office in an hour !! Well, she told me there's no exact recipe for assam laksa, just trial and error. Add blended chilli, onions, assam and boil. Taste and add ingredients accordingly. Sounds easy but aitelyu, the list of ingredients got my head cracking and had me running to Giant and back many times.
I used bunga kantan, daun kesum, serai, big onion, shallots, assam jawa, assam keping, fresh chilli, dried chilli, ikan bilis, kembung fish, pineapples, cucumber, mint leaves, prawn paste...
Whew, what a long list. I started cooking a day before and luckily I had a big Corningware pot to use. I remembered not to use stainless steel to boil assam laksa soup (the acidity will corrode the pot) and I thought of using my biggest non stick pot and then hubs said, non stick pots are also made of steel and so what was the difference ? I panicked with all the igredients staring at me and no pot to boil soup, DIE ! DIE ! DIE !
Luckily I thought of my Corningware. Never used it to cook before, I only use to contain my curries and fried rice. Well, my Corningware saved my assam laksa day.
Ok... I have 2 kg of fresh kembung fish, steamed and flaked. Messy job ! Took me some time to flake them clean and started attracting ants to the kitchen.. eeewww..
Then, making the stock.. it's almost all of the ingredients mentioned above and boiling for hours..
before straining the pulp away and adding more water (lack of space in one corningware pot) and boiling again with the deboned fish.
Here's my assam laksa brew :
Lai fun..
Garnishings.. all have to be sliced thin and kept fresh
Chopped bunga kantan
Cucumber
The pot of soup.. almost one whole day of preparation.
The result...
and my guests.. Assam laksa with beer.. how cool is that ???
So, anyone wants assam laksa ? Please bring along your flaked kembungs ok ??
