Laksa

Laksa has a taste like no other and loved by everyone (well, mostly). It is a spice-laden noodle dish that is popular in Malaysia and Singapore. There are many different types of laksa but the two dominant ones are curry laksa (coconut milk based) and asam laksa (tamarind based). Laksa is an iconic street food served by hawkers throughout Malaysia. Laksa was listed at number 7 on World's 50 most delicious foods complied by CNN Go in 2011.

 A bowl of laksa usually comes brimming with the signature ‘hae ko’ (thick sweet prawn paste) and pieces of mackerel fish. Laksa is normally served with either thick rice noodles or thin rice noodles (vermicelli). As you scoop up tablespoons, the strands of thick rice noodles are covered by the generous ingredients.

 The soup is thick with balanced taste of sweet, sour and spicy, added with lingering touch of the prawn paste. It’s a small bowl, but satisfying, and some may want seconds. A bowl of laksa will come garnished with finely sliced lettuce, cucumber, pineapple, mint, onions and ginger flower (bunga kantan) with chili to taste.

 Laksa is simply referred to or ordered at a restaurant as laksa (curry laksa) or asam laksa. By default, laksa means the standard curry laksa while asam laksa refers to the standard Penang version. If a restaurant serves a non-standard version, the restaurant will qualify the laksa by the version being sold.

Chai Buey

Chai Buey or also known as Kiam Chai Buey is a popular Chinese Hokkien dish. Often cooked during Chinese New Year. It is one of the most appetising Chinese food you will ever have eaten. Chai Buey if translated from the Hokkien dialect means leftover dishes.

So is this a vegetable stew or is it a vegetable soup some may ask? I would see this as more of a vegetable stew. During Chinese New Year, there will be a lot of leftover food. Chinese families will often pour all these into a pot and cook into what you see in the picture below.

The leftovers can range from vegetables (mushrooms, cabbage, etc), meat (roast pork, roast duck, roast chicken, port trotters) to seafood (abalone, prawns, squid,etc). It may sound disgusting to some, this mixture is the exact reason why this stew is special and tasty. Chinese pickled mustard, fresh Chinese mustard leaves are added together with tamarind juice and slices, dried chilli and pepper corns. It's very savoury, spicy & sour.

It takes quite a while to cook as you need to stew it and make sure all the ingredients are releasing and soaking up the flavours. It simple to cook though: Just throw in everything. For halal version, you can substitute the meat with halal ones.

Chai Buey Recipe :

Leftover meat (roast pig, barbeque pork, duck, chicken, or turkey)
6 dried red chilies (soaked with warm water and then cut into pieces)
4 pieces of Asam Gelugor (tamarind skins)
1 cup of tamarind juice
3 teaspoons of taucheo (fermented yellow bean sauce)
5 medium bowls of water
4 stalks of mustard green (cut into pieces)
Salt to taste

Method:

In a pot, bring the water to boil. Add the leftover meat and boil for 30 minutes. Add in the dried red chilies, dried tamarind slices, tamarind juice, taucheo (fermented yellow bean sauce), Chinese pickled mustard and fresh Chinese mustard green and simmer for another 45 minutes. Add salt to taste.

Voila. Serve hot with steamed white rice.

[ Raw Food ] Traditional Thai Food - Goong Che Nam Pla กุ้งแชน้ำปล่า. Raw Prawn Salad

I recently traveled to Chiang Mai, Thailand between 20-25 Decemeber 2014. It was a great trip as the weather was cool and I managed to sample a variety of Thai food.

I had a taste of Goong Che Nam Pla กุ้งแชน้ำปล่า aka Thai Raw Prawn Salad during one of the dinner sessions. Note: This is raw food. Some locals joked it was the Thai version of carpaccio. It was my first time eating it and it's actually nice and tasty. I was sceptical about it because it was raw and the multiple horror stories of food poisoning especially places far away from the sea or river.

If you're a fan of sashimi or anything raw, this will definitely be the dish for you. Goong Che Nam Pam is one intense dish. It is basically raw prawns marinated in chillies, Thai fish sauce, lime juice, garlic and mint leaves. You eat it just like that minus the tail.

The one I had was using tamarind instead of lime juice. It's prepared either marinated or the marinate as dip. It's simple to make according to my Thai travel guide and here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

8 medium sized raw prawns

Some bird chillies

4 cloves of garlic

2 tablespoons Thai fish sauce

2 or 3 tablespoons of lime/tamarind juice

Garnish:
Mint leaves
Slices of lime

How to prepare:
1. Clean, shell and cut the prawns into butterfly shape. Spread them flat on a plate
2. Drizzle fish sauce over the prawns and keep in fridge for 5 minutes
3. Chop the chillies and garlic finely and mix them into lime/tamarind juice

4. Take out the prawns and drizzle the rest of the ingredients and serve.

Alternatively, you can mix all the ingredients (minus prawns) and use it as a dip for the prawns.