Penang Assam Laksa

Yesterday i shared with you salted fish, and I am going to share you a bowl of spicy, sour, fruity and fragrant Penang assam laksa using fresh fish today. Penang Assam Laksa was voted as CNN’s top 10 yummiest food !!

Actually this laksa is easy to make, the only tricky part is picking the flesh out from the fish..
My mom taught me to use small size of kembung fish as it has better fish aroma..

This is one of the most important ingredient that you should not missed, Hae Ko/ prawn paste..

i like to eat the fish flesh in pieces, so i did not boiled the fish stock for too long..so you can see the stock i prepared is quite clear and not that thick,,you may adjust the cooking time as per your preference..

Penang Assam Laksa
(recipe source: by Sonia aka Nasi Lemak Lover)

Ingredients
1kg Kembung fish / Mackerel fish, remove scales and guts
3000ml water
A small bunch of daun Kesum / Laksa leaf
35g dried tamarind peels

Spice paste
1tbsp chilli paste
8 shallots
10g galangal (blue ginger)
1 lemongrass, take the white part only
5g shrimp paste (belacan)

Seasonings
3tsp salt or taste
3tbsp sugar or to taste
2tbsp fish sauce or to taste

For the bowls
1-2kg fresh Laksa noodles
1 small pineapple, cut small pieces
A bunch of mint leaves
1 cucumber, julienned
2 red chilli, deseeded and sliced
1 bunga kantan / torch ginger, thinly sliced
1 large red onion, very thinly sliced
Lime
Prawn paste (Hae Ko)

Method

1. Blend chilli paste, shallots, galangal, lemongrass and belacan till fine paste.
2. Bring water to boil, put in fish, daun Kesum, and tamarind peels.
3. Cook for 10mins, remove fishes from the stock and set aside to cool. Set fire to low and continue to boil for another 10mins.
4. Pick the flesh out of all the fish and discard the bones. Break the fish meat into tiny pieces.
5. Strain the stock in another pot. Remove daun Kesum and tamarind peel.
6. Use the same pot, heat oil and sauté blended spice paste till aroma, add in the fish stock and cooked fishes pieces and few cooked tamarind peels, continue to boil for 45mins over low heat.
7. Add in seasonings, and adjust the taste accordingly.
8. In a serving bowl, add in the Laksa noodles (blanch in hot water first) and garnish all vegetables on top. Pour the Assam Laksa soup into the bowl and serve immediately with a spoonful of Hae Ko/prawn paste.

I am submitting this post to "Muhibbah Malaysia Monday blog event"which hosted by 3 hungry tummies