So the General Election has finally drawn to a close. Most Malaysians would have been glued to the social media sites/TV/Radio following the poll counting and some have been feeling disappointed with how it all unfolded. Regardless of the outcomes, don’t despair. I have a song for you. Never give up. Just gotta keep trying.

Right, back to food. After the series of multinational dishes with salmon and noodles, I felt it was most appropriate to bring it home with my home state (Sarawak) recipe.

Before you start saying “Hang on a minute…. This doesn’t look like Sarawak Laksa!” Indeed I have not done an authentic Sarawak Laksa this time, and you will probably never see salmon in this dish ever. Yes, I have totally ‘bastardised’ this dish. Sometimes a little bit of innovation brings a refreshing change to a traditional dish, don’t you think? There are places that sell Kolok mee with Seafood (usually pork only) nowadays, it’s only natural for Sarawak Laksa to perhaps include other types of seafood. Or at the very least, please a salmon lover like me.

By the way if you like to see a more authentic version, I have blogged about the recipe previously here.

Few changes here besides the obvious change of seafood: I used hardboiled egg instead of omelette (and found myself liking it more), and swapped the rice vermicelli for yellow noodles.

Sarawak Laksa with Salmon

Fresh Yellow noodles enough for two
1 Salmon fillet (up to you whether you want skin on or off)
2 Hard boiled Eggs (boiled for no more than 5 minutes)
Big handful of bean sprouts
2 small Calamansi Limes
100g of Sarawak Laksa paste (“Eagle” brand, others might have different constitutions)
60ml Coconut milk
Salt and sugar to taste
500ml Chicken stock (homemade is best, but Stock cubes are acceptable too)
Coriander leaves (for garnishing)

Method:

Wash and drain the fresh noodles. Blanched for a minute then set aside. This is mostly to remove the Kan Sui (Alkaline) taste.

Blanched the bean sprouts for a minute, then drained and set aside.

Season the salmon with salt and white pepper, then pan fried for 2-3 minutes each side until just cooked. Cut into bite size pieces.

In a pot, lightly fry the laksa paste until fragrant (you won’t need oil because the paste already comes with), add the Chicken stock and cook for 20-30 minutes. Sieve the sediment of the broth and bring it to boil again. Add coconut milk and stir well. Turn off the heat. Taste and season. If you had used Chicken stock cube the broth might already be salty enough. Pinch of sugar to balance the taste.

Set the noodles in bowls, pour over the broth and arrange bean sprouts, salmon pieces, eggs (cut in half) on top, garnish with as much Coriander as you like. Serve immediately.

Why haven’t I thought of this before? I’m not a huge fan of prawns (don’t kill me, dear Sarawakians) so for me this version ticks all the right boxes for me! Only downside is that this has a rather high cost price, I think I’ll have to price each bowl at about RM10 (with hardly any profit at all).

I found that Yellow noodles actually absorb the flavours more, probably owing to their size. Very slurp-worthy. No wonder the Curry Laksa in West Malaysia are served with both types of noodles for maximum enjoyment. As for the broth, well once you have a taste of good Sarawak Laksa, you’ll understand why some of us are totally addicted. It’s a combination of salty umaminess (from the shrimp paste), sweet (from Coconut milk), sour (lime and tamarind) and of course the spicy note. Absolutely delicious.

I think I have finally done enough combination of Salmon with noodles. What do you think? Which one is your favourite?

Check out the other related posts:

Vietnamese Rice Noodles Salad with Salmon
Smoked Salmon Spaghetti with zucchini and capers
Teriyaki Salmon and Yaki Udon