This laksa has made its way into the Top 10 wish list of world-renowned chef Anthony Bourdain for his food market in New York. He even captioned the picture of Laksa Sarawak on his instagram with
“breakfast of gods”.
Feeling proud? Hell, yeahhhh. In the first place, I have no idea why I did this entry. I was doing this dish yesterday since it was Hari Raya. Auntie was not here in Kuching, so we prepared our own foods. This was one of the dishes we cooked yesterday. Thought of sharing it. And I guess this will be a long entry.
Now, let's start with the ingredients. I'll try to list down everything. And please mind yourself, I don't measure the ingredients. You agak-agak jer laaaa... I mean, it's all up to you.
We need all these things (let me check back the photos on my phone)
- Chicken breasts (I used one and a half, removed the skin and the fat)
- Eggs (around 4 to 5 eggs)
- Sambal belacan. Hehehe. Go for instant sambal belacan. To make this, trust me, if you are lazy, do it my way. Get the instant sambal belacan. If you translate the term, it would be shrimp paste? I use Sambal Belacan by the brand Adabi. Thank you for making this comes true especially for lazy people like me. Muahahahaha
- Fresh coconut milk (If you don't have this, you can use coconut cream powder or canned coconut milk. Ask your taste bud. Fresh is better, if you can find it.)
- Laksa Sarawak paste (This is a very important part. Get two packets, 500gram each packet. Depends on how much you are going to make. For us, we prefer the paste by the brand Haji Manan. Thank you for producing such a lovely paste)
- Prawns (Tiger prawn or Asian tiger shrimp.Whatever names you called it. For all I know, I still prefer my laksa Sarawak to be served with tiger prawn)
- Rice vermicelli (one packet or two)
- Bean sprouts ( If you like it a lot, have a lot of it. Try not to over decorate the dish later on)
- Calamansi lime ( Did you know I have to Google this name for you? Here we called it limo. I don't know why but I feel funny while typing this. limo limo limo limo limo.. Limo mantak)
- Daun ketumbar (This is optional, but it would be better to have it. Coriander leaves. I noticed when I Google the name in English, they called it cilantro too. Or Chinese parsley. Whatever. I don't restrict the terms. As long as you know how it looks like)
- What else? You'll need enough water to make the laksa broth, salt and MSG? Hahaha. We use Ajinomoto. That is one of the secret in laksa broth. Should I reveal another one? Later on. I got this one from my auntie. How to make your laksa Sarawak broth tastes even better?... Ssssshhhh. Heh. Please make sure to credit us (why am I keep on using us instead of me? Me sounded selfish. So, I use us to address myself, just to include the people around) if you use this recipe to make one. But do not use this recipe to open up a business or for sale. I sell you later one if you do that.
- You are ALLOWED to use this recipe for makan-makan with your family and friends, but NOT WITH THE INTENTION OF SELLING THE DISH. I guess that's all. Shall we continue? I told you, it's going to be longggggggggggggggggg....
- We don't mind sharing the recipe. Although we revealed them all, it is still up to the person who cook the dish to make it tastes awesome. Even if you have the recipe and all the secrets, cooking without sincerity and "feels good vibe" would make the dish taste awful. So, good luck!
1. Boil water in a pot. I use a medium pot. If you want to make your broth thicker, less water needed. To make it less thicker or watery, you add water. Just nice. While waiting for the water to boil, you can just use the time to prepare the chicken breast and also the prawns. I show you the photos.
Tiger prawns. Find the one with medium size. Cut off the sharp thing, I don't how to call that part and also the tail.
Chicken breasts without skins and fats
2. Once the water is boiled, shall we use the word throw in? Or maybe put into. Put the chicken breast into the boiling water and let it cooked for a while. Am not sure how many minutes but keep on checking it. Once it cooked, remove the chicken breast aside. Toss it. Then put in the prawns but not too long. Let it boiled for 5-10 seconds. Toss the prawns too. After tossing everything out, put the laksa paste into the boiling water. The same boiling water. You may add water if you need it. If not, just put the laksa paste into the pot. I use two packets. So that you can have the taste of the herbs when you sip the broth later on. Do not put the coconut milk in on the same time as you put in the laksa paste. Wait for 30-45 minutes, then you add on the coconut milk (I use only one packet). If you like it creamier, you may add extra coconut milk. If not, just one packet is enough. You should know your own taste bud. But then laksa Sarawak supposed to be balanced in taste- the creamy part and the thickness taste of the paste.
The laksa paste and fresh coconut milk
Boil the chicken breast first, then the prawns. And then, add on the laksa paste. After 30-45 minutes of boiling, add on the coconut milk. Let it be boiled for another 15-20 minutes. Make sure to keep on stirring the broth to avoid the bottom part from burning. Don't say I didn't warn you on this.
3. Now, let's take a break before we continue. I just cannot imagine my life without coffee.
4. While waiting for the laksa broth to fully cook and thicken a little bit, prepare the fried eggs. I used 5 eggs. Fried them on a pan, then shredded thinly using knife. Just like the photo below.
(Please ignore the Secret Recipe thing there)
5. What else? Oh, the chicken breasts. Do the pull out thing. I mean, pull off chicken. I mean, shred the chicken breast with your fingers. Please do not use knife. The shredded chicken are not supposed to look nicely shredded, unlike the shredded fried eggs.
6. Next, bean sprouts. I didn't cook the bean sprouts. Just leave it in a hot water for few seconds and toss. So that you don't lose the crunchiness and also the sweetness of the bean sprouts. Set aside. Shred the coriander. We use it as a garnish on the dish. It helps to give you that not-too-strong taste of mint when you eat the laksa later on. It helps to give a pleasant smell when you munch it later. You know, sambal belacan has a strong aroma and ada ummpphhhh.
7. Cut of the calamansi lime. I just cut off the top of the lime. I don't cut it into two (cutting in the middle) as doing that will give you a greater chance of cutting the seed which will resulted in the bitterness of the lemony taste of the lime. Got me? Paham sik? Mun sik paham, sik ku tauk gik, eh. Pandey pandey lah kitak orang Google kan benda tok kelak.
The bean sprouts, the sambal belacan paste, we have calamansi lime too and also coriander
8. Don't forget to add on salt and Ajinomoto into your laksa broth. Agak-agak jerrr. Not to much salt as the sambal belacan paste itself will give u the taste of salt and the calamansi lime too will add on to the flavor. And prawns. Remember? Prawns contain iodin. Coconut milk too acts as MSG or seasoning. Off the gas after the laksa broth is cooked. Then, boil the rice vermicelli using other pot. Toss once it cooked. Set aside.
9. Complete? I know, aside from the Ajinomoto secret, there is one more to make the laksa broth taste awesome. I tell you, your Ajinomoto portion should be more than salt when you add into the broth. Prepare everything and we did ours like this.
We had the rice vermicelli there ready, the tossed prawns, the fingers shredded chicken breasts, the knife shredded friend eggs, the few seconds toss-into-the-hot-water bean sprouts, the Adabi sambal belacan paste and also calamansi lime.
Taaa-daaaaaa
10. How to serve laksa Sarawak? Use a bowl. These were prepared by my cousin, as I couldn't do more after almost two hours preparing the broth and the sides. Instant ingredients also would take up a lot of time.
First, put the rice vermicelli, then top with shredded chicken breast, then shredded fried egg, then bean sprouts, then prawns. Top again with sambal belacan paste and coriander leaves. We didn't put the coriander leaves yesterday as the coriander looked bad for food presentation. Hahahaha. Whatever. And top with calamansi lime. How to say perah in English? Just press the calamansi lime (to get the juice) on top of the dish. Lastly, pour the laksa broth into the bowl. Did we use pour? whatever. Look at the first panel on the second row of the photo. It should be like that.
And then, mix everything and then....
Makannnnnnnn!!!!
Finally, it's completed.
Oh, yesss. The secret, apart for the Ajinomoto secret. How to make the laksa broth tastes even better?
You see, there are people who does not want their laksa to be served with prawns (prawns with the skin and the head). So it goes like this.
Boil the prawns for few seconds, and then toss. Peel off the skin and the heads but do not throw them away. Blend them all. I mean, the skin and also the head of the prawns. Then add them into the laksa broth. Boil them together with the laksa paste and also coconut milk.
Another way to make your prawns taste better is to boil them with water added on a little bit of sugar. This helps to keep the prawns chewy and presentable. The easiest one is just make sure your prawns are fresh and boil for few seconds only. Otherwise you will lose the sweetness.
Ok. That's all. You have it all.
Gotta go. I spent hours on this entry alone. I still have papers to mark. Don't forget, aaahhhh.
Please, do let me know if you make this. Tell me.
~xoxo~
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