Today taste Penang Asam Laksa at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2, while on the travel to Singapore.
I am alway have the interest to tryout Asam laksa if I saw restaurant offer it. Maybe I am while to found out the taste while at kid time, eat with my father (already passing away). Maybe due to the kid memory, I am have special feeling on the dish, if I saw one, and always intent to taste it and in search for whether the taste I have during my kid time.
Maybe due to take, along my years have taste out so many. So far the taste is ok, I think it is impossible to found back the taste I have during my kid time, I think that the memory. Anywhere, one of my favor dish. It surprise me have very high ranking in the world cuisine. It rank 26/50 of the world best cuisine must taste out.
Below the explanation of the dish:
Asam laksa is a sour, fish and tamarind-based soup. Penang Asam Laksa listed at number 26th on World’s 50 most delicious foods complied by CNN Go in 2011.
Asam is the Malay word for any ingredients that makes a dish tastes sour (e.g. tamarind,gelugur or kokum). Laksa typically uses asam keping, known as kokum in the English speaking world, which is a type of dried slices of sour mangosteens. The modern Malay spelling is asam, though the spelling assam is still frequently used.
The main ingredients for asam laksa include shredded fish, normally kembung (small mackerel of the Rastrelliger genus), and finely sliced vegetables including cucumber, onions, red chillies, pineapple, lettuce, common mint, daun kesum (Vietnamese mint or laksa mint) and pink bunga kantan (torch ginger). Asam laksa is normally served with either thick rice noodles or thin rice noodles (vermicelli). And topped off with petis udang or “hae ko” (蝦羔), a thick sweet prawn/shrimp paste.
Variants of asam laksa exist, the one I refer and take photo from today lunch :
- Penang laksa (Malay: Laksa Pulau Pinang), also known as asam laksa from the Malay for tamarind, comes from the Malaysian island of Penang. It is made with mackerel (ikan kembung) soup and its main distinguishing feature is the asam or tamarind which gives the soup a sour taste. The fish is poached and then flaked. Other ingredients that give Penang laksa its distinctive flavour include lemongrass, galangal (lengkuas) and chilli. Typical garnishes include mint, pineapple slices, thinly sliced onion, hε-ko, a thick sweet prawn paste and use of torch ginger flower. This, and not ‘curry mee’ is the usual ‘laksa’ one gets in Penang.