Sarawak'ian Laksa

There are many types of Laksa. Sarawak'ian Laksa is my favourite. It is not as 'coconut-y' as Nyonya Laksa and it is not as 'fishy' as Penang Laksa. It has this very strong aroma which comes from the boiling of shrimp shells for hours..

It is relatively easy to prepare, although can be laborious. So, my advice is to get a good friend (makan kaki) to give you a hand in the preparation. Otherwise, by the time yo finished preparing, you would have lost your appetite to the exhaustion from the preparation.

So, I cheated. I used Laksa paste! I knowwwww.... I should have prepared my own... buttttt it is so troublesome..... So, I always use the 'Swallow Brand' Laksa paste as recommended by my granny. My granny sure makes lovely Laksa- spicy and spicy...

To make it tastier, I decided to add some rempah to the laksa paste. And YES, I prepared the rempah... How hard can it be? Just grind some lemongrass, onion, chilli, turmeric, ginger and a bit of oil in a blender. BUT,  ENJOY cutting them...

Saute the rempah and laksa paste till fragrant and set aside.

The laksa paste can be very oily...

Then, boil a big pot of water, blanch the shrimps with shell on till just-cooked. Make sure to submerge the cooked shrimps into ice water so the shrimps will not be rubbery. Remove the shells and put the shells back in the water. DO not throw away the shrimp heads. Those are the most flavourful bits. Then add a whole chicken and let it cook on low heat for 2 hours, or until you can see the flesh of the chicken fall apart from the bones.

The soup looks oranges because of the shrimp

Remove the chicken from the soup and set aside to cool. Remove the shrimp shells from the soup and add the laksa paste. Let it boil while stirring occasionally. Add salt to taste.

You can prepare the condiments as you like. I prepared some shredded chicken, sliced cucumber, vermicelli and bean sprouts. I only remembered the omelette when all my party buddies have arrived so I did not bother.

Hard work pays off

Just mix everything!