Assam Laksa

I just had an assam laksa for dinner tonight. We were in Summit Mall again. I went to a salon to have my hair trimmed. This was the first time that I had asam laksa. I usually have curry laksa. I felt very bloated after eating assam laksa. Actually it's not very fattening. But I like eating noodles so I ate a lot. Talk about dieting and all. Oh well, one can always buy Phenphedrine to counteract what we eat, right? LOL. But what is laksa anyway?

Laksa is a popular spicy noodle soup from Peranakan culture also known as Baba and Nyonya, which is a merger of Chinese and Malay elements found in Malaysia and Singapore. There are different kinds of laksa. There's this curry laksa, assam laksa, and sarawak laksa.

Assam laksa is a sour fish-based soup. Asam (or asam jawa) is the Malay word for tamarind, which is commonly used to give the stock its sour flavor. It is also common to use "asam keping" also known as "asam gelugor", dried slices of tamarind fruit, for added sourness. Modern Malay spelling is asam, though the spelling assam is still frequently used.

The main ingredients for assam laksa include shredded fish, normally kembung fish or mackerel, and finely sliced vegetables including cucumber, onions, red chillis, pineapple, lettuce, common mint, "daun kesum" (Vietnamese mint or laksa mint) and pink bunga kantan (ginger buds). Assam laksa is normally served with either thick rice noodles or thin rice noodles (vermicelli). And topped off with "petis udang" or "hae ko", a thick sweet prawn/shrimp paste.