Home made Kuching Laksa

Laksa has various different varieties depending on the state of origin, most famous are Kuching Laksa (or known commonly as Sarawak Laksa), Johor Laksa, Assam Laksa Laksa Siam, Laksa Pahang and many more. The tastes and ingredients differ, some are rich with lots of santan (coconut milk) added in, other smothered in thick gravy, thick fish paste are concocted together in some while others are of a lighter hue. The type of noodles used in preparation also differ, some with yellow noodles akin to pasta, others use meehoon or even glass noodles or for the assam, a thicker white noodle. Ingredients added also differ from stall to stall, dried prawns can be added for extra flavour, tau fu pok (fried tofu) is another common ingredient, while cucumber slices are added for some. All in all one bowl from another will prove a different experience to the connoisseur.

My colleague from Sibu decided to invite us master students for a meal she and another course mate prepared. A fellow Kuching gal recently went back and brought along several packs of home blended sambal from her mom’s kitchen. Thus we had all the necessary ingredients for a nice lunch of Kuching Laksa, and who better to prepare it than a couple of local Sarawakian gals.

Nothing fancy, the noodles were garnished with simple ingredients, lady fingers (or better known as okras), chicken shreds and tau geh (bean sprouts), not forgetting a side dish of cili padi (a local puny variety of chili that packed quite a wallop to the taste buds). The item that makes this dish special is the soup; this brew often tastes different depending on who prepares them as everyone has their own secret recipe to taste. Chen Fong prepared ours using the homemade sambal and even when it was being brewed the tantalizing odour can be smelled throughout the whole kitchen.

Serving is a simple matter of dousing the already blanched ingredients with the prepared soup. Thus it is ready to serve, had to take this pic fast as everyone was clamouring to dig into their bowl of steaming laksa.

Here is the finished product. Johleen decided to have some fun and made this caricature of another colleague who was joining us for lunch.

Sadly one of the ingredients included were from my list of unbearable foodstuff, one being brinjal and now okra! Slimy and with hair like skin tastes funny to me, plus I don’t like too starchy a vegetable, so mine went without.