I’m in the midst of final preparations for my church camp and will be leaving for Damai Laut tomorrow. I will be back in Kuala Lumpur on Monday with a string of 4 trials over Monday to Thursday. Just before I leave for the break and considering my hectic schedule next week, I thought I would leave you with one of my favourite food reviews which I did way back in September 2006:-

This is not exactly the first write-up on the famous Sarawak Laksa found in Kuala Lumpur, specifically Nam Chuan Coffeeshop at Bangsar. Why then do I write?

Well, having read the various other reviews, I have been itching to have a taste of this so-called famous Sarawak Laksa in Kuala Lumpur. In fact, I went twice but on both occasions, it was closed. REMEMBER all you folks out there - It is CLOSED on WEDNESDAYS!!! Don’t say I did not warn you. I had to settle for something lesser the last two trips I went.

Anyway, my bosses and I were supposed to go to Segambut for the famous Tom Yam Noodles but due to massive traffic jam at Jalan Raja Laut, we decided to detour and I managed to persuade them to give this Sarawak Laksa a try after reading all the rave reviews.

Now I must say, I am quite critical of Sarawak Laksa especially having had the privilege of tasting Sarawak Laksa from different stalls in Kuching. I even tried cooking it myself. Hey, if you have tasted the real thing from the original place, your expectations go really high. So, with a high sense of expectation of tasting the authentic Sarawak Laksa (I read from the reviews that the stall is operated by a lady from Kuching) whilst having a fear of being disappointed by perhaps sub-standard fare, we arrived at Nam Chuan Coffeeshop at about 1pm.

I quickly ordered the large portion. Rice vermicelli (Bee Hoon) only please. Even though she also serves yellow noodles, I prefer to have it the original way. Thick beehoon is the way to go. Business is good and we waited for about 5 minutes. Hey! When you are highly charged up with saliva drooling for something delicious (hopefully), 5 minutes feels like an eternity.

The sambal belacan that comes with the Sarawak Laksa looked authentic enough but in really measly portion. You can ask for top-up if you want. The wait was like agony and I tried to distract my attention from the waiting by looking around the coffeeshop whilst sipping the teh cina ais I ordered.

Sarawak Laksa at Nam Chuan Coffeeshop

Finally, it came. Wow! The bowl is humongous. The portion acceptable and the aroma of the soup was familiar. This gotta be good. I quickly took a photo (to share with all of you lah) before I started my work on the Sarawak Laksa.

First thing I did was to squeeze the lime over the soup. This is almost obligatory to give the soup a real “kick”. The first taste of the soup was heavenly. The second taste confirmatory. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, THIS IS SARAWAK LAKSA. Right here, available in Kuala Lumpur and I am testifying and confirming the opinions of those who have enjoyed it and raved about it.

The soup is full bodied and the amount of santan (coconut milk) is just nice. Not too creamy like those Curry Laksas. It is a bit spicy compared to those found in Kuching but I can take that. No problems. The large bowl costs RM5.00. Not too bad, actually considering after cooking Sarawak Laksa myself, I reckoned it should cost at least RM5.00 to be worthwhile selling.

There are three medium sized prawns. Freshness was so-so only. Maybe because it is freshwater prawns. But that’s not too important. Overall, I would strongly recommend this Sarawak Laksa stall to those who are in the Klang Valley who have yet to try and wish to have a taste of what Sarawak Laksa is all about.

“Abacus”. Learn mathematics counting them whilst you eat.

Oh, by the way, the lady also sells other stuffs. One of which is “Abacus” or “Suan Pan Tze”. It is made of yam and glutinous rice rolled into balls akin to abacus. Famous Hakka dish. Not too bad. It is quite fragrant and you can actually taste the yam. I am a bit suspicious of the colouring though…

Other food she sells are Pig Stomach Pepper Soup and Kachangma. The latter is a famous dish from Sarawak using Motherswort herbs cooked with chicken and ginger in rice wine. My wife loves it. It is often served during confinement after childbirth. Guaranteed to help you heat up your body and expel wind in the process

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When mum felt that I was old enough to handle a chopper / cleaver, one of the first tasks she delegated me to do was to chop / mince meat on a chopping board. I actually loved chopping and had the pleasure of seeing the meat being minced up nicely (sounds scary, isn’t it?).

For this recipe, which again, the photo does not do any justice to the delightful taste of the dish, you are looking at 3 ingredients only. Yes, 3 ingredients to make you happy. And they are easy enough to find save and except Tung Chye which is chinese salted vegetables which are brown in colour and comes in really small sizes. It is salty and you wouldn’t want too much of that. However, too little and the mince would not taste as nice. I guess it would be trial and error and depends on individual preference on the taste. Give it a try, anyway.

This is my recipe for Steamed Minced Pork with Tung Chye Read the rest of this entry »

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Well….I thought it is high time for a change. After upgrading to Wordpress 2.2, I thought I might as well change to a new template to give a fresh injection to this blog. I first saw this template being used at Make$ Money. It took me quite a while actually, cutting, copying and pasting and ensuring most, if not all, my plugins and what-have-nots are also available on this new look site.

So, how do you like this new look?

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Plain fried fish is a common fare in Chinese homes in Malaysia. With a simple seasoning of salt, fish like mackarel, kurau and promfret is fried and eaten as it is for its natural sweet taste. Problem is, sometimes you can’t finish the fish in one meal and you need to re-fry it for the next meal. Re-frying makes the fish meat tough and less appealing. One of the ways to overcome this would be to cook some form of sauce to “soften” the fried fish. Of course, you can always use fresh fish fried for the first time and cook it this way so that the fish is not overly dry.

Any block of fish would do. Over here, we used a portion of snapper. As for the leek, it imparts a sweetness to the dish and is good chewing as it is quite tender by the time the whole dish is cooked. Give it a try.

This is the recipe for Fried Fish with Stir-Fried Leek Sauce

Ingredients

• Fish (any type you fancy, preferably less bones)
• 1 stalk of leek (sliced thinly)
• 1 red chilli (sliced thinly)
• 3 slices of ginger
• some water
• Cooking oil

Seasoning

• Sprinkle of salt (to marinade fish)
• Light soya sauce to taste
• Sugar to taste

Method

Marinade fish for 30 minutes with salt. Give it a quick rinse thereafter and deep / shallow fry in wok till cooked. Remove and place on plate.

Clean wok and heat up 1/2 tablespoon of cooking oil. Saute ginger, leeks and chilli till ginger starts to brown. Add some water (about 4 tablespoons or more) and bring to boil. Add light soya sauce and sugar to taste and cook leeks till desired softness. Add water if sauce is too dry to your liking.

Pour sauce over fried fish and serve hot with steaming white rice.

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