Easy Assam Laksa

From my last assam laksa post, I said I?ll be doing an easy version next time.

Not that the taste will be vastly different, but the method. A much easier one.
Read on and u?ll know

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*Easy Assam Laksa Recipe

1 can (425gm) canned sardines , buy the brand u love to eat, discard the gravy.
2 torch ginger buds (bunga kantan)
2 thick lemon grass, 3 if they?re thin. These that I used were almost as thick as my thumb. (use 4 inches from the base, discard the rest)
1 large onion, peeled
2 cloves garlic, peeled (left out this from the pic)
Few sprigs of daun kesum (laksa leaves, or u can try to substitute with Thai basil/hot basil. The smell will be slightly different)
30 gm chilli powder (I used 2 X15gm Alagappa?s Chilli powder, some brands may be hotter, so do not use the whole amount straightaway. Korean brands might be hotter)
20 gm chilli belacan powder (1 small pack Chung Kim Chuan brand, or u can use 15gm pure belacan powder)
200gm Tamarind paste (assam jawa paste, Adabi brand 1 whole container)
2 Ikan bilis cubes, or u can substitute with chicken bouillon cube. Fish stock will be ok too, just substitute with some of the water content.
1 heaped Tbsp salt
¼ cup sugar
2L + 3 cups +1 cup +1cup water.

1. Place 2L water in a medium pot(5L capacity) and bring to a boil.
2. Meanwhile, slice torch ginger, lemon grass , onion and garlic. Place these in a blender. Put in 3 cups of water and puree till fine. Pour into the pot.
3. Remove sardines from tomato sauce and place in blender (no need to wash after ?2?) and put in 1 cup of water and pulse few times. Pour into pot.
4. Rinse blender with 1 cup water and pour into pot.
5. Throw in whole sprigs of daun kesum (remove bases of course), tamarind paste, chilli powder, belacan powder and ikan bilis cubes into the pot. Bring to a simmer for 15 minutes.
6. Put in salt, and sugar. Taste. It should be slightly oversalted, mildly sweet and have a prominent sour taste. Adjust to ur own preference

This amount will produce about 4L of soup.


Serve :

Prepare 200gm noodles(lai fun or even spaghetti) for each person. Lightly blanch in boiling water. Strain noodles well and place in bowl .Ladle soup over noodles. Top with julienned cucumbers, onions, mint and red chilli. Adding hard boiled egg is a Malay way of eating "laksa". I feel so awkward calling this Assam Laksa as we all fondly call this as Laksa.