Homemade Penang Assam Laksa

We drove to Teluk Intan with mom in-law (her hometown) last Monday to deal with some business issues.  We stopped at Yi Ma's (mom in-law's elder sister) house. We started our journey from house around 6.10am and reached Yi Ma's house at 8.10am.  Yi Ma was going to cook us Assam Laksa for lunch and I got to peep on how it was made.  The taste was simply yummilicious but as Yi Ma preferred clearer stock, the fish was not flaked to thicken the stock.  You can see lots of big chunks of fish meat from the picture below.

My bowl of Yi Ma's homemade Assam Laksa with

undiluted prawn paste

I craved for assam laksa with thicker stock and wanted to try my own version.  I headed to the nearby wet market this morning to get necessary ingredients and started my cooking project after dropping off my son at school.

Dried Laksa Noodles

The dried laksa rice noodles need to soak in water for at least 4 hours before boiling  for another 20 minutes or until it cooks thoroughly.

Ikan Kembung (Indian Mackerel)

Bring a pot of water to boil and put in the ikan kembung.  Remove the fish after 15 minutes.  Do not overcook them as it would make it harder for deboning.  

Daun Kesom/Laksa (Polygonum leaves) - (A)

Bunga Kantan (ginger buds), serai (lemon grass),

lengkuas (galangal) (B)

Add (A) and (B) into the boiling stock and lower the heat and let it simmer.

Belacan, sliced serai (lemon grass), tomatoes, shallots,

kunyit (tumeric roots) (a)

Dried chillies, fresh chillies, shallots (b)

Put ingredients (a) and (b) into a blender and blend until it turns into paste form.

saute the blended spice paste with cooking oil

Transfer the sauteed spice paste to the stock and let it simmer

My bowl of homemade Assam Laksa

And tadaa... I have my bowl of self made Assam laksa topped with generous garnishing of lettuce, sliced bunga kantan, onions, mint leaves and cucumber and of course prawn paste (har gou) I can't go without.  I flaked all the fish meat to make the soup thicker.. and the result, it's way too thick!.. should have keep some bigger chunks of fish for garnishing..

Overall, the taste was good but aroma wise, it was somewhat lacking.  I remember passing by the Assam Laksa corner at Jusco Mid Valley and the strong aroma is something that you won't miss and never fail to pull me in to sit down and order a bowl. 

Any assam laksa experts here, mind sharing with me on the lacking of aroma part?