Asam laksa or Penang laksa is derived from having a more liquid sauce and a sweet and sour taste. Asam laksa originates from the Chinese community that migrated to Malaya. They have added pineapple and shrimp brain in laksa which makes asam laksa have a unique and distinctive taste. Seberang Perai is famous for its laksa campur. Laksa campur is different from asam laksa because it consists of eggs, prawns, and sambal stir-fried squid.
Asam laksa sauce is prepared using boiled mackerel. It is cooked with onions, kantan flowers and kesum leaves. Then it is served with rice laksa or vermicelli laksa and sprinkled with cucumber slices, lettuce leaves, onion slices, lemon slices and boiled eggs.
Let’s check the penang sour laksa recipe from this Rasa.my blog!
Ingredients
- 1 packet of laksa
- 10 sardines | boil, separate the contents (half to grind, set aside the rest)
- 1.5 liters of water (to boil the fish)
- 1 small tin of sardines/mackerel (take the contents only)
- Ground dry chili (according to the spiciness, I use 1 spoon)
- 5 red chilies grind
- 2 large onions | grind
- 1 inch galangal | sliced
- 2 inches belacan
- 1 stick of lemongrass
- 8 shallots
- 1 bunch or more kesum leaves/laksa leaves are sufficient
- 3 or 4 asam pieces (for stewed fish & laksa sauce)
- 1/2 cup tamarind water
- 1 tablespoon of oil for frying
- Prawn brain paste
- Salt to taste
Cooking Methods
- 1. Boil the fish with 1.5 liters of water along with 1 or 2 pieces of tamarind.
- 2. Saute all the ground ingredients until the oil appears *except for the fish filling.
- 3. Add fish broth, belacan, kesum leaves, lemongrass, tamarind paste and tamarind water. Leave to cook for 40 minutes to 1 hour or until quite thick.
- 4. Add the fish filling, sardines and prawn brain paste. Mix together all the ingredients, cook for a while until the desired level of concentration.
- 5. Finally, sprinkle vegetable ingredients or boiled eggs and so on as a complement to the meal.
Additional Ingredients
- Boiled eggs
- Salad leaves @ selom leaves
- Cucumber
- Mint leaves
- Red chili & rice chili
- Pineapple
- Musk lime
- Prawn brain paste
Good luck!
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- Ringgi/Emping Beras: A Unique Perlis Traditional Snack
- Pulut Harum Manis: A Perfect Combination From Glutinous Rice and Mango
Article written by Nurul Humaira’ Hasan.
