The following recipe comes from an Australian based blog 3 Hungry Tummies:
Asam laksa (asam meaning tamarind in Malay) also popularly known as Penang laksa, is a lesser know member of the laksa family outside of Malaysia and Singapore. It is a fish and tamarind-based noodle soup believed to be invented in the “street food capital of Malaysia”, Penang.
Not a lot is written about the origin of this wonderful dish; I personally think it definitely has a southern Thai connection as the taste and ingredients used are very similar to keang som (sour orange curry)
makes 8 serves as a very satisfying one dish meal;
for the broth you’ll need;
- 1kg of the freshest mackeral or any type of fresh fish you can lay you hands on, boiled and picked
- 8p pcs of tamarind peel (asam keping/gelugor) pictured above
- 6 tbs of tamarind paste (asam jawa)
- 10 stalks of Vietnamese mint (daun kesom)
- 4 l of water
Method:
- Boil fish in boiling water for 5 minutes, remove fish, strain stock and add in the rest of the ingredients.
- Add spice paste (recipe follows) and bring to a boil, then simmer for 30 minutes.
- Add in flaked fish just before serving.
for spice paste you’ll need:
- 500g of shallots, chopped
- 4 stalks of lemongrass, chopped white part only
- 10 red chilies, chopped
- 10 dried chilies, soaked and chopped
- small knob of turmeric
- a small piece of shrimp paste (belachan)
you’ll also need;
- 1 cucumber, jullienne
- 1 red onion, thinly sliced
- 1 ginger flower (bunga kantan 薑花), thinly sliced – pictured in the second photo
- 1/2 a pineapple, skinned, eyes removed and sliced
- 2 red chilies, sliced
- a handful of mint leaves
- lime wedges
- 1kg of laksa noodle (lai fun 瀨粉) or any soup noodles
- 5 tbs of prawn paste (petis udang 蝦膏）diluted with some hot water – pictured in the second photo
Laksa broth bubbling away for 40 minutes. Remove solids and add flake fish just before serving.
Place blanched noodles in a bowl and pour the fragrant hot fish broth over.
Add toppings.
Drizzle some prawn paste over and mix everything up!! Makanlah!!!
Asam Laksa/ Tamarind and Fish Soup