I only recently discovered Top Chef. How could I have not known about this show until they are already in Season 4 ? On the show, one of the contestants decided to do a Laksa & Anthony Boudain who was the Head Judge for that round said, "I take my laksa very seriously."
So after watching that episode, I decided it was time to take my laksa seriously too. Well not that seriously enough to make it from scratch. You see laksa is actually not one of my favorite Singaporean dishes. Not really sure why and although I will eat it, it's just not something I would normally order.
This weather was really getting me down (I promise not to talk about the weather any more) & I needed something to perk me up. Sitting in my pantry were the 2 packets of Prima Taste Laksa ready mix that friends had sent to me (thank you Barb & Swee Lin). In general, I'm not really a fan of ready mixes cos they taste well, like ready mixes & if I really like a dish, I want to do it from scratch anyway. But since it's hard to find the ingredients to make a laksa, I'm happy to try out this ready mix.
There are basically 2 types of laksa - the singapore version which is made with coconut & the penang version which is made with assam. Apparently there are also other versions like johore laksa & sarawak laksa although I have not tried nor have any idea what they are. Traditionally laksa is served with rice vermicelli but I wanted to do something different so mixed in some ramen.
The instructions on the package was very straight forward. Add the premix which is actually the coconut powder into water & then stir in the laksa paste. Right off the bat, it already smells heavenly. I started to get excited. Next I threw in some tau pok from my very precious stash & 5-6 whole shrimps. Once the shrimps were cooked, the laksa soup was basically ready. No more than 10 mins in all.
Then it was just laddling the soup on top of the noodles & topping off with a handful of beansprouts. The pack also came with a satchet of sambal chilli - a very generous satchet if I may add and a satchet of dried laksa leaves for ganishing. How thoughtful !!
It was so good. This bowl of laksa really hit the spot & that's saying a lot for someone who doesn't even like laksa to begin with. I'm not a snob but if a pack of ready mix can make me feel that way without having to slave for hours in the kitchen, that's fine by me. Looks like I'm ready to try their other ones. I had a quick look at their website & they even have party packs - for big groups etc.
Dear Mum, Can you please send over as many Prima Taste Paste that you can possibly find & carry ? Many thanks, Your daughter.
So after watching that episode, I decided it was time to take my laksa seriously too. Well not that seriously enough to make it from scratch. You see laksa is actually not one of my favorite Singaporean dishes. Not really sure why and although I will eat it, it's just not something I would normally order.
This weather was really getting me down (I promise not to talk about the weather any more) & I needed something to perk me up. Sitting in my pantry were the 2 packets of Prima Taste Laksa ready mix that friends had sent to me (thank you Barb & Swee Lin). In general, I'm not really a fan of ready mixes cos they taste well, like ready mixes & if I really like a dish, I want to do it from scratch anyway. But since it's hard to find the ingredients to make a laksa, I'm happy to try out this ready mix.
There are basically 2 types of laksa - the singapore version which is made with coconut & the penang version which is made with assam. Apparently there are also other versions like johore laksa & sarawak laksa although I have not tried nor have any idea what they are. Traditionally laksa is served with rice vermicelli but I wanted to do something different so mixed in some ramen.
The instructions on the package was very straight forward. Add the premix which is actually the coconut powder into water & then stir in the laksa paste. Right off the bat, it already smells heavenly. I started to get excited. Next I threw in some tau pok from my very precious stash & 5-6 whole shrimps. Once the shrimps were cooked, the laksa soup was basically ready. No more than 10 mins in all.
Then it was just laddling the soup on top of the noodles & topping off with a handful of beansprouts. The pack also came with a satchet of sambal chilli - a very generous satchet if I may add and a satchet of dried laksa leaves for ganishing. How thoughtful !!
It was so good. This bowl of laksa really hit the spot & that's saying a lot for someone who doesn't even like laksa to begin with. I'm not a snob but if a pack of ready mix can make me feel that way without having to slave for hours in the kitchen, that's fine by me. Looks like I'm ready to try their other ones. I had a quick look at their website & they even have party packs - for big groups etc.
Dear Mum, Can you please send over as many Prima Taste Paste that you can possibly find & carry ? Many thanks, Your daughter.
7 comments:
I LOVE, LOVE Top Chef. One of my fave shows. Watched all 4 seasons. :D So much better than Hell's Kitchen which is a piece of crap.
is that katong laksa or assam laksa?? i must really send some of my favourite pre-mixes to u...by the way, i tried cooking your recent lamb dish, with a bit of asian modification. used dried lavender (from china)and japanese shitake mushrooms instead. yummy.
Sri
I just watched Season 4 & trying to catch up on the other seasons. Have they shown the final yet ? If yes, don't tell me the winner. I just watched when they are in Puerto Rico = final 3 with Richard, Stephanie & Lisa. I'm a little bumped that they chose Lisa over Antonio. Go Stephanie !
Meng
I don't know what's Katong Laksa but it's definitely not assam laksa. What are your favorite pre-mixes ? The Prima ones ?
What's dried lavender ? So did you take a picture of your dish ?
u never tasted katong laksa before??? basically the gravy is different n definitely more lemak compared to the assam version. i look for the mixes for u.
not good at food arrangements, so didn't take any photos. beside, no camera at home hehe.
dried lanvender..literally lanvender that has been dried out in the sun. got a whole pack of it from china. not as fragrant as the ones from europe. when mixed with other herbs, it'll add a wonder aroma, esp to red meat. i love to use it for lamb.
What did I say - I'm just not a connoisseur of laksa but I think I'm beginning to.
I've never used dried lavender in cooking before but this sounds very interesting. Maybe I'll try this out the next time we cook lamb - we've got lots of those in the freezer.
I blog hopped from Sri's blog....your rojak blog name caught my eye and made my mouth water. hehehe I am a huge huge huge fan of the Prima Taste products. We get them here in Australia and they really hit the spot for authentic delish food. I highly recommend the Prima Taste Rendang and Singapore Curry. Those two are seriously seriously good. The other noodles like the mee siam and mee rebus are good too. I haven't tried the char kuay teow...because no matter how good that packet is....it will never be as good as back home...so let's leave that one for my fav hawker stall. Oh and if you like black pepper beef.....then the prima taste sachet of black pepper beef is oh oh oh oh oh soooo darn good!!! Off to read the rest of your blog!
Hi Ruey
Thanks for dropping by. Some friends are coming over in Aug & guess what they'll be bringing over for me - thanks for the suggestions, I think I would like to try rendang & mee siam too. You're lucky you get them in Australia. Over here, I'm lucky if they even stock soy sauce.
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