Laksa Lemak

When you are in Malaysia, sometime it is very confusing it come to laksa because there are many versions and depends on which part of Malaysia you at, the have a different name and different taste.

Basically, there are 3 type of laksa: Asam Laksa (Penang Laksa), Curry Laksa and Laksa Lemak.

Asam Laksa or Penang Laksa is the one without coconut milk. The soup base was mainly cook from Mackerel and has the spicy and sourly flavor. This is one of the Penang Specialty. If you get a chance to visit Penang, don't miss it.

Curry Laksa and Laska Lemak contain coconut milk. I didn't know Curry Laksa until I went to KL for my college because back in my home town, we always call it Curry Noodle without the word Laksa. So in short Curry Laksa is actually mean Noodle in Curry soup based.

Laksa Lemak is another version I think is from Melaka Nyonya. This is not as common as Asam Laksa or Curry Laksa you can find in Malaysia. If I remember it right, the first time I had Laksa Lemak were from my cousin sister in law. (She is a great cook) She cooked this from scratch and delicious is the only word I can think off.

I bought this Hup Loong Laksa Lemak from Malaysia, and it has been sitting in my pantry for a while. So I decided to treat myself some nice Malaysia noodle soup last weekend. Since we can hardly get Mackerel from here, I substitute the fish with canned Sardine. It taste great and I love premix spice. I actually prefer Hup Loong Laksa Lemak than the Hup Loong Asam Laksa. I think the Asam laksa they have are too spicy for me and lack of flavor. But for this, all you need are some fish, onion and a canned of coconut milk.Yummy!

Sometime, I think it is weird to ask my hubby how's the food taste? Especially Malaysia food that he had never eaten before like this one. He will response with good or OK. Without knowing what to expect and what's the actual flavor of the food, it is very hard for him to give me comment besides great and ok. But I just can't stop myself from asking this question, because I want to know what's his thought about my cooking :)

7 comments:

Lee Ping said...

Dear Cocoa,
I see that you have posted some of my favorite foods lately. Yum! Spicy foods are perfect for the hot summer days because it stimulates our taste buds.

Sorry that I haven't come by these few days. I have been busy with the older kids. We are going to ice skating later.

Mummy Joanne and Daddy Terence said...

Did you ever bring Ivan back to Malaysia? Any plan to visit Malaysia with Ivan and Aidan?

cocoa said...

Lee ping, I seldom cook Malaysian food at home because my whole house will smell fishy after cooking but i was craving for some malaysia food last week, so I don't have a choice :) Always which that I have an outdoor kitchen so I can cook the smelly stuff outside !

mommy Joanne,
yes, we tried to go home (Malaysia and Hong Kong) once every 2 years. We went home on March 06 but we are planning a trip home maybe end of this year since my family except my mom have not see Aidan. My friend told me that once the baby turn 2, their air ticket get very expensive, so we better go home before Aidan turns 2 :) We are applying passport for him and it take about 2 months to get the passport.

Mummy Joanne and Daddy Terence said...

Yeap yeap, when baby turn 2, their air ticket will be expensive! Hmm, if you happen to visit Penang, let me know ya! But before that, have you ever bring Aidan flying with air plane? It will be good if you let him try flying for short distance before any long distance flight. We once fly to KL with Kelvin, it's challenging as me and Terence need to keep him entertained.

Lee Ping said...

Dear Cocoa,

You are right about the house smelling like fish especially when I fry my Ikan Bilis.

I open my windows and I light a few candles to get rid of the smell.

We have an outdoor BBQ set. I wonder if I can put a pot of hot oil and deep fry on the BBQ set?

cocoa said...

Mommy Joanne,
Yes, sure will let you know when we plan to stop by penang.. but got place to sleep ar??
Aidan hasn't had any plane trip yet, we did drove to Chicago on the memorial weekend and he was doing great in that trip. I did heard about challenge keeping the kid entertain. well I don't think we have any choice but to get all his toys with us.. the most important things are the pillow and bolster!!

LeePing,
We just bought a grill set with a side burner too. my plan is to use the side burner for cooking smelly food outdoor if possible. I also have a small gas burner that people use for hotpot. I used in the summer for deep frying cooking.. but lately I to avoid deep frying food, coz it take times to cook and it gets so dirty...

Mummy Joanne and Daddy Terence said...

Cocoa,
Place to sleep? No problem! You can stay in my apt, if you don't mind :) Aidan is such a good boy, he behave well in the car, so envy! Kelvin will ask me to carry him if he sits in the car seat for too long. Tips from my friend who travel with her 9 mths old baby to US are :-
1.Let the baby drink milk/water/any fluid during plan take off and landing in order to prevent ear discomfort
2. If baby is light sleeper, then let baby sleep in your arm, instead of bassinet because the air crew may ask you to hold on your baby during air turbulence. Putting baby in and out from bassinet may make them become cranky baby.
I nearly wanna bring Kelvin to US as Terence going to Austin for biz trip, but later, we drop the idea. **Don't think i can handle him in the plane**