Today is Thursday, the day hubby has to pop into his office. I like to cook him a surprise lunch every Thursday. I sent him to work this morning after giving him eggy bread and started to make my asam curry paste. I planned to finished cooking and showered by the time he comes back for lunch.

There are many ways of cooking this dish but this is the way I preferred mine to be cooked as this is the way I have eaten for as long as I could remember. I suppose like most dishes traditionally we are used to how our parents and grandparents cooked them.

As for me myself I still much preferred my fish to be seasoned and fried before adding to my asam curry sauce. Hence, I find it hard to eat fish curry outside and I always asked the vendor if they fried their fish first before placing my order.

As usual this is more as a guide than a fixed recipe as such. I have a pot of otak udang chilli that I have made the other day which I can add to my paste. If you do not have you can add a small handful of dried shrimps and blend with your paste. I also have daun kesom, laksa leaves, bravely surviving in the cold so I used some to boil my nasi kunyit.

As I am using oil to fry and aubergines and fish, I decided to also fry some keropok ikan and prawns from Kuching and some chicken and prawn wantons. This is because after frying my aubergines and fish I will throw away the oil. The oil will then have no more ‘strength’ for frying anything else. To try and reuse it some more will cause your cook to be very greasy!

p/s Otak udang – fried prawns heads with oil till crispy with garlic, salt, chilli and blitz in the blender to make a paste. Store in fridge and use at will.

Asam Laksa can happen in Hertfordshire, England.

A couple of decades ago I I was missing Asam Laksa so much but it was near impossible to find all the ingredients here. I was ‘importing’ my stash every time I balik kampung

My stash included torch ginger (bunga kantan), polygonum odoratum (daun kesum) and calamansi lime (limau kesturi) but nowadays they are able to be gotten here but still not easy.

Today I have decided to use some of my stash from Malaysia to cook Asam Laksa as I am going to replenish my stash soon.

For my paste I like to add a small bit of turmeric and galangal (blue ginger) Both these ingredients are easy to find here in Chinatown.

TIP 1 – To get a clear fish broth sieve it once with a normal sieve then sieve it a second time by placing a sheet of kitchen roll on your sieve as an extra lining for a much clearer fish broth.

TIP 2 – Blend your spices till fine. I like to blend some of my lemon grass and torch ginger besides adding some to boil with the broth.

TIP 3 – Remove the big bits from your broth before adding in your fish meat.

Updated 8/08/2021

Actually Asam Laksa is very easy to cook. Years of working and cooking for a family you learn to organise yourself.

I like to boil and picked my fish the night before and the next day just blend and fry the paste. Mush easier and less stress.

Note – I have tried ordering asam laksa outside and I have yet to find one I am willing to part my ££ for! A famous restaurant in Chinatown which I once took a Japanese friend to try (after singing the virtue of how cool and different asam laksa is) was a HUGE let down.

When I queried, the waitress told me it just tin sardines + chilli + asam jawa water and the people working there don’t even eat it! Till this day I am still shocked!

When I read some good reviews recently I think I have to go and try again to see if they have ‘updated’ their asam laksa OR maybe I am just fussy? – kekekekekeke

A good asam laksa (my opinion)

1 – The broth should not be a murky dark brown or look like curry. It should be a clear fish broth with hint of red chilli oil.

2 – The mackerels if you have picked yourself should be in chunks not in bits.

3 – The taste should be sour, spicy, taste of lemongrass, galangal and most important of all the combo of torch ginger and laksa leaves!

Note – Remember the heh ko/prawn paste is sweet. Use as much or as little as you like.