This is a dish I have a craving for few times a year. Cincalok Pork belly. I was so blessed to be the recipient of a beautiful jar of this goodness from a friend. I almost want to put it by my pillow and sleep with it. kekekekeke

Cincalok this jar that I have is from Malacca so the pinkish shrimp used is called udang geragau. Cincalok are readily identifiable and the taste is salty. Therefore when cooking this dish do NOT add salt.

I am sharing what I used in cooking this dish but the proportions is entirely up to you.

Warning – This dish is very moreish. Boil more rice!

p/s I like mine with lots of onions. How do you like yours?

I have not cooked asam jawa aka tamarind fish for ages. Just last month I was talking with a friend about this dish.

She had bought some amazingly fresh mackerels and I suggested to her this is one of the dish she can cook with her mackerels. This dish must be sour, sweet and spicy. All you need is a big pot of rice.

It is an extremely simple cook and the most difficult thing to do was to clean the kitchen after frying!

Actually I have made a mistake. I should not have bought such a big wild seabass as it was so big my biggest wok 36 cm can’t fit! Thus frying the fish crispy was not so easy. It’s just that the seabass was so fresh and winking at me yesterday at the fishmonger.

In the end, however the dish prevails.

p/s Taste and adjust to your taste. I prefer mine more sour, follow by spicy then sweet. The touch of soy sauce also adds that bit of extra depth of flavour. Season it to your taste.

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.

Torch Ginger Flower Chicken cooked with belacan aka shrimp paste – Sambal Belacan Ayam Bunga Kantan. For reason unknown I love torch ginger, the smell, the taste, it’s fragrance, I just love them. When I got 2 huge jars from a friend who came back to UK from Malaysia I happily spent days thinking how to make good use of them. My friend spent time going to the markets in Ipoh, (Perak, Malaysia) and bought all the bunga kantan he could find, sliced them and semi fried them in oil. Then he packed them into jars and brought them all the way to UK for me with love.

Hence this dish – Torch Ginger Flower Chicken cooked with shrimp paste