Make a bowl of homemade asam laksa with this asam laksa recipe! Asam laksa is a popular Southeast Asian noodle dish from Malaysia. The asam laksa soup is sweet yet sour and spicy, and the toppings are plentiful. For instance, there is mint, pineapple chunks, purple onion, etc. Different variations exist, but this asam laksa recipe makes the Penang style asam laksa. It has a fish-based stock made with mackerel, shrimp paste, and various herbs.
Meal: Lunch, Dinner Cuisine: Malaysia
Preparation time: Cooking time: Total time: Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients
Spice and herbs:
100g of red chillies
150g of shallots
24g of garlic
25g of galangal, skinned
Other ingredients:
2.4l of water
500g of mackerel fish
For the soup:
3 stalks of lemongrass, cut into half and bruised
5 pieces of dried tamarind peel
50g of tamarind paste
15g of shrimp paste
3 pieces of dried ginger flower or 1 fresh ginger flower
For seasoning:
62.5g of sugar
Salt to taste
To serve:
500g of thick rice noodles, cook according to package instruction
Topping:
1 large cucumber, julienned
1 large purple onion, thinly sliced
100g of pineapple, cut into small chunks
1 handful of fresh mint leaves
1 head of lettuce, shredded
1 ginger flower, finely chopped
1 lime, cut into quarters
50g of hae ko (fermented shrimp paste) mixed with 15ml of hot water
Equipment
1 pestle and mortar
1 large pot with lid
1 large sieve
Directions
Ground the red chillies, shallots, garlic, and galangal with a pestle and mortar. You can add some water to make the grinding easier. Set aside.
Bring 2.4l of water to a boil in a large pot, add the mackerel fish and let it cook for 10 minutes.
Remove the fish and let it cool. Once it is cool to the touch, flake the fish meat and set it aside while saving the bones and head.
Add the grounded spice and herbs, fish bones, lemongrass, dried tamarind peel, tamarind paste, shrimp paste, and ginger flower into the large pot with the water and bring it to a boil.
Lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes with the lid on.
Turn off the heat, strain the soup with a large sieve and discard all the solids.
Add the flaked fish into the soup and season it with sugar and salt to taste.
Portion the cooked rice noodles and flaked fish into bowls and pour generous amounts of soup into each bowl.
Top the noodles with sliced cucumber, onion, pineapple chunks, mint leaves, shredded lettuce, and chopped ginger flower.
Serve with lime wedges and hae ko on the side.
Alternative Ingredients
Using fresh mackerel for asam laksa is ideal. However, if you don’t have access to fresh mackerel, you can use frozen ones. In the worst-case scenario, if you can’t find any mackerel, then canned sardines in tomato sauce works too. On the other hand, if you can’t find dried tamarind, you can add more tamarind paste and lime juice instead. You can also substitute shrimp paste with Thai wet shrimp paste.
Missing some ingredients?
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