Penang Assam Laksa

[leon9]

Yay, I finally converted this for cooking on the TMX. Penang Assam Laksa was voted No. 7 on the top 50 “foods worth travelling the world to gorge on”, in a recent CNN Go feature.


Penang Assam Laksa                                                                    4 servings
Ingredients for:-

Stock:
600 g fish (any oily fish for flaking)
1.25 litres of water
6  stalks polygonum# (Vietnamese mint)
3 stalks lemon grass, bruised
1 torch ginger flower, quartered
50 g tamarind paste ( I use those seeded, pasteurized ones that comes in little tubs)

Ground Paste:
8 dried chillies, soaked
8 fresh chillies. seeded
2 cm piece galangal, thinly sliced
2 cm piece turmeric (or 1 tsp ground turmeric)
2 stalks lemon grass. finely sliced
15 shallots
5 pips garlic
3cmX3cmX1cm piece toasted shrimp paste

Seasoning:
2 tbs sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tbs fish sauce (optional)

Garnish*:
˝ pineapple, sliced into small pieces
1 cucumber, julienned
1 young torch ginger flower, finely sliced
3 red chillies, seeded and finely sliced
2 big onions, finely sliced
200g cos lettuce, finely sliced
3 sprigs mint leaves
3 tbs black shrimp paste, dilute with some hot water

400 g of thick rice vermicelli, scalded

Method:
Fillet cleaned fish. Place fish fillets onto Varoma unit and fish bones into the basket.
Put polygonum, lemon grass and ginger flower into basket along with bones into TM bowl.
Add water and place Varoma unit with fish fillets on top to cook at Varoma temp, Sp 3 for 20 mins.
Set aside fish, leave to cool before flaking(check carefully for stray bones!). Strain the stock and set aside.

Put all the ingredients for the ground paste into TM bowl, blend at Speed 1-7 for 30 seconds. Scrape down and blitz at turbo for 20 seconds, 3 times or till finely ground, scraping down when necessary.
Add in the fish stock and tamarind paste, continue cooking at Varoma temp, Speed 2 for another 20 min before adding in the flaked fish and seasoning for a final stir.

To serve, put some noodles into individual bowls, garnish* and top with piping hot laksa gravy.

Note  There is a reason why we sometimes call this# laksa leaf, cos the laksa cannot do without it!
* This list looks daunting but I personally think that it is a matter of individual taste as to what you would like for a garnish. My DH dislikes mint and the shrimp paste, so he leaves that out. I sometimes substitute rice vermicelli with spaghetti, fresh fish with canned sardines or tuna for an quick laksa.
Feel free to reduce chillies for less spicy laksa. Enjoy!
leon9

[Lellyj]

Thank you Leon 9 . . . I LOVE a good assam laska!  We used to go to a little takeaway restaurant in Mitcham (Victoria Australia), where a lovely lady called Nancy dished out an awesome assam laska dish . . . havent come across one quite as good since, so will be keen to try.  I have seen and cooked with torch ginger in Bali, but have never seen it available in Australia--I imagine it would be in some Asian grocers and I have heard in florist shops?  Do you think I could substitute fresh galangal or ginger, maybe, if I can't find it (I live in a rural area and have to stock up when I get the chance to go to an Asian grocer!)

[leon9]

Hi Lellyj,
The torch ginger flower is mostly used for flavouring sour and spicy seafood dishes in Malaysia. I like the floral fragrance so much that I sneak it into a lot of my cooking. You could try increasing the amount of galangal in the ground paste and using another 2 bruised lemon grass in the fish stock. It is not ideal but would greatly help to boost the aroma of the gravy. I feel that there is no hard and fast rule to a recipe, tweak it to your liking. Who is to say a laksa must be done this way, it is your laksa and you are eating it! Go ahead and experiment, you could dish out a winner!
Gosh, I just noticed that my recipe is posted in bold! Help! What have I done???

[leon9]

Sorry folks, I left out 50 g of tamarind paste that should go into the stock together with the ground paste. Can anyone help me to ammend the recipe? Still very green!!!

[Cornish Cream]

Sorry folks, I left out 50 g of tamarind paste that should go into the stock together with the ground paste. Can anyone help me to ammend the recipe? Still very green!!!

At the top right hand corner of your post you will see three buttons quote,modify and delete,just press modify and amend your recipe and then at the bottom press save.I hope you can understand my instructions.

[thermoheaven]

Love Penang laksa!

[judydawn]

While you are in there amending the ingredients Leon, you will notice these letters in brackets (examples shown below) at the top and bottom of your recipe details.  If you delete them, you will bring your printing back to normal.

[with lower case b inside] at the beginning

[with lower case /b inside] at the end

Hope that is clear.  If not, don't worry about it - it is quite Ok as is.

[Carine]

I love laksa!  Will definitely give your recipe a go,  Thanks leon9 

[leon9]

Okay, all done with the editing. Thank you JD and CC for your help.

[trudy]

Thanks so much for this great recipe.

[Tasty]

I would like to try this on the weekend but have a few questions regarding the ingredients:

what would be an example of a common oily fish??
Do you buy vietnamese mint from an asian grocer?? Is it usually available?
Also ginger flower - is that also commonly available there?
Can I substitute galangal powder for galangal and in what quantities?

TIA

[judydawn]

Oily fish

Herring
Kippers
Mackeral
Marlin
Pilchards
Salmon
Sardines
Sprats
Swordfish
Trout
Fresh (not tinned) tuna

I have Vietnamese mint growing in a pot - it's easy to grow and you have it on hand whenever you want it. 
If a recipe requires galangal, you can try ginger instead.
Frozen ginger flowers can be substituted if you can't find fresh, available from Asian groceries.

[Tasty]

Thanks JD - you are ever so helpful.

So Oily fish is not really my kind of fish but I might give it a go as it should be good for me.

I probably won't bother growing vietnamese mint especially if it's just for one dish (and I don't know if I'll like it yet). Anywhere else I can get it from?

Thanks I have heard you can substitue ginger for galangal but I bought the powder for such purposes too and was wondering if anyone can help me by telling me the rough quantities.

Will have to go seeking out that ginger flower at the local asian grocer.

[JulieO]

Tasty I saw Vietnamese mint at Woolies this morning.  Not in the usual plastic bags but in a small plastic container in the same area. 

[Tasty]

I had a look when I did my grocery shopping today Julie and I saw the plastic containers you were talking about but none there. Forgot to check my fruit and veg shop though....they might've had it. I think they have more of a range.