A favorite street food in Malaysia. When I used to wait for my fried kuey teow at my favorite kuey teow hawker stall, I was always fascinated by the lightning speed that the dish is prepared in. The trick is to wok fast and use high heat. The kuey teow master wok so much, his spatula was ground down to the shape of the wok.

Chef’s tip: It is very important that the dish is cooked one serving at a time for maximum “wok hay” (wok’s breath).

Ingredients:

Sauce:
6 tablespoons dark soy sauce
9 tablespoons light soy sauce
2 tablespoons fish sauce
9 tablespoons water

4 lb fresh flat rice noodles
10 cloves of garlic, minced to make about 10 teaspoons of minced garlic
20 oz shelled uncooked medium-sized shrimps
12 oz Chinese chives
12 oz / 4 cups bean sprouts
4 Chinese sausage, thinly sliced

20 tablespoons/ 1 ¼ cup canola oil, in a squeeze bottle
Sri Racha chili sauce (optional)
10 eggs

Preparing the ingredients:
1.    Mix soy sauces and water together.  Transfer to a squeeze bottle.  Set aside.
2.    Place the remaining ingredients mise-en-place, and roughly divide each ingredient into 10 portions
Cooking the dish – 1 serving at a time:
3.    Heat a cast iron pan or a wok on high heat
4.    Add 1 tablespoon oil, add 1 portion (1/10th of the ingredient) of Chinese sausage and sauté 1 minute till fragrant.  Push to the side of the wok.
5.    Add ½ teaspoon of garlic and a portion of shrimp and saute until shrimp turns pink. Push to the side of the wok.
6.    Add 1/2 tablespoon of oil and another ½ teaspoon of garlic and for spicier option, add ½ teaspoon Sri Racha.  Sauté 30 seconds, add 1 portion of noodles.   Drizzle 2 tablespoons soy sauce mix over the noodles, toss on high heat till noodles are well coated. Push to the side of the wok.
7.    Make a well in the middle, add 1/2 tablespoon of oil.  Break in an egg, drizzle in a teaspoon of soy sauce mix, let it cook like a sunny side up, until eggs are whit but still slightly runny, then scramble the eggs into the noodle mixture.
8.    Add 1 portion each of bean spouts and chives.  Toss to mix.
9.    Serve immediately.

Repeat for each serving.

Serves: 10

This recipe is adapted from a recipe from my friend, Tammy Kang, whom I used to work with in Kuala Lumpur.   We used to love seeking out all the best “makan” joints -  street foods being on top of our list.   Laksa is really the king of street foods.   Laksa Johor is my all-time favorite of the laksa family.  We use many different kinds of fragrant herbs like kaffir lime leaves and if you can get it, bunga kantan, a pink ginger flower bud, and of course, laksa leaves, or more commonly known in the US as Rau Ram.

Chef’s tip: Instead of using a ikan kurau masin (salted dried fish), I use the bacalhao salted cod which is more easily found here and offers just as much sweetness and umami flavors.

Ingredients:

Meat:
½ lb salted cod
½ teaspooon kosher salt
1 lb cod

Spice Paste:
10 dried Japanese chilies or 5 fresh red jalapeno
10 shallots
1 inch of ginger
1 inch of galangal
1 inch fresh tumeric
1 tablespoon roasted belachan
5 candlenuts
½ teaspoon black pepper
3 tablespoon dried shrimp, soaked
3 tablespoon toasted desiccated coconut

Broth:
¼ cup of canola oil for frying
3 cups coconut milk
3 pieces of lemongrass, bruised
5 stalks laksa leaves
3-4 cups fish or chicken broth
1 Tablespoon kosher salt

Toppings:
1 cup of shredded English cucumber
1 red jalapeno
½ red onion
1 cup of fresh pineapples
2 eggs
1 cup of mint leaves, whole
2 tablespoons laksa leaves, finely minced
1 Tablespoon ginger flower, finely minced

8 oz spaghetti, some salt and olive oil
1 lime, quartered

Preparing the salted cod:
1.    Soak the salt cod for a couple of hours.  Change the water if needed.
2.    Remove the bones and mince the fish fine. Soak the dried shrimp for at least an hour.
Preparing the fish:
3.    Salt the fish.  Steam the fish until opaque and cooked through, about 10 minutes.
4.    When cooled, remove bones and skin.  Coarsely flake the fish with a fork.
Preparing the spice paste:
5.    Grind together spice paste ingredients in a food processor until smooth.  Set aside.
6.    Grind dried shrimp, salt cod, and toasted desiccated coconut into fine flakes.
Preparing the laksa soup base:
7.    Heat oil in a large heavy pot over medium heat until just hot.  Stir in spice paste. Stir constantly, until the red oil separates from the spice paste about 8 to 10 minutes. Add fish mince.
8.    Lower the heat, slowly add coconut milk, lemon grass, tamarind slices, laksa leaves, chicken broth and bring to a slow simmer, stirring constantly.  Simmer for at 20-30 minutes.  Salt to taste.  Remove tamarind, lemongrass and laksa leaves.  Add flaked fish.
Preparing the vegetables:
9.    Finely julienne cucumber and jalapeno. Slice the onion. Cut pineapples into small wedges.  Chiffonade the laksa leaves and ginger flower.
10.    Beat eggs with a pinch of salt.  Make thin omelets. Slice them into ¼ inch strips.
Preparing the noodles
11.    Bring a pot of water to boil.  Boil spaghetti till el dente.  Drain.
Assembly
12.    Place a serving of noodles, vegetables, herb, eggs in bowls and ladle laksa broth over.
13.    Serve with quartered limes and sambal.

Serve: 6

There are many different kinds of laksa.  Generally speaking, laksa is a spicy broth, frequently made with a coconut cream base, served with a variety of meats and herbs.  In this simpler version of curry laksa, more commonly found in the hawker centers of PJ, it’s usually just chicken and “kerang” cockles.  I have substituted the blood-y shellfish with oysters or shrimp to be more acceptable to folks this side of the Pacific!

I always like my laksa noodle “yin yeung” ie a mix of egg noodles and rice noodles.

Chef’s tip: The last drizzle of coconut milk gives a smooth, rich flavor to the broth.

Ingredients

Topping:
1 large boneless chicken breast or thigh, about 1 lb
8 pieces of shucked oysters or shrimp
2 hard boiled eggs, quartered

Spice Paste:
10 dried chilies or about 5 fresh red jalapenos
10 shallots
2 cloves garlic
2 lemongrass
2 tablespoon roasted belachan (substitute 2 tablespoon fish sauce)
1 tablespoon mild curry powder
1 inch of galangal
1 tablespoon dried tumeric powder
½ teaspoon black pepper
¼ cup of canola oil for frying

Broth:
2 cups coconut milk, reserve ½ cup of cream
4 cups of chicken broth
1 cup of water
Salt to taste (at least a few pinchfuls of salt)
12 fried tofu puffs

6 oz egg noodles
6 oz rice vermicelli

Vegetables:
1 cup mung bean sprouts
Cilantro

Preparing the meat:
1.    Steam chicken breast until cooked, about 20 minutes. Tear or cut into ½ inch thick slices
2.    Drain the oysters, keep refrigerated.  If using shrimp, blanch shrimp.
Preparing the spice paste:
3.    Grind together spice paste ingredients in a food processor until smooth.  Set aside.
Preparing the laksa soup base:
4.    Heat oil in a large heavy pot over medium heat until just hot.  Stir in spice paste. Cook, stirring constantly, until the red oil separates from the spice paste about 8 to 10 minutes.
5.    Lower the heat, slowly add coconut milk, tofu balls, chicken stock and bring to a slow simmer, stirring constantly.  Simmer for at 20-30 minutes.  Salt to taste.
Preparing the noodles:
6.    Bring a pot of water to boil.  Add salt and oil.  Blanch rice vermicelli till tender.
7.    Using the same water, blanch egg noodles.  Reserve.
Assembly:
8.    Place a serving of noodles and rice vermicelli, vegetables, chicken, and oysters in bowls and ladle laksa broth over.  Drizzle a teaspoon of coconut cream.  Garnish with cilantro.
9.    Serve with quartered limes and sambal.

Serves: 4

Succulent morsels of chicken meat typically grilled over a charcoal fire. In South East Asia, every country’s got their version of satay. This is the Malaysian (or Singaporean) version which is sweeter, and less spicy than the Indonesian’s version. We also use cubed pieces of meat unlike the Thai version which meat is in one strip.

Chef’s tip: To ensure that the meat remains moist, reserve the green stems of the lemon grass and split the lemongrass length-wise, leaving 2 inches uncut. Tie them together to make a brush. Baste the satay as you grill them with a mixture of water and oil. Also, when skewering the chicken, to avoid your fingernails from being dyed yellow by the tumeric, wear a food grade pair of gloves. Your hands will not smell later either.

Ingredients

Marinade:
8 shallots, peeled, sliced
3 stalks lemon grass, white part, cut finely.  Reserve green parts.
2 cloves garlic, peeled, smashed
3 tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground fennel
1 tablespoon ground tumeric
2 teasspoons kosher salt
5 tablespoons sugar
2 lbs chicken thighs, boneless, skinless, trimmed of fat
1 cup water + 2 tablespoons canola oil
20 bamboo skewers, soaked

Peanut Sauce Spice Paste:
4 large shallots, sliced
2 cloves garlic
4 red fresno chile, deseeded, chopped
3 candlenuts or macadamia
1 inch fresh galangal
1 stalk lemongrass, white part, sliced finely
½ inch fresh turmeric
1 tablespoon belachan

Sauce:
¼ cup canola oil
1 cup water
1½ cup roasted unsalted peanuts, crushed
4 tablespoons palm sugar
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar/ tamarind paste
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Garnish:
1 english cucumber
1 red onion

To make the marinate and sate
1.    In a food processor, grind shallots, lemongrass, garlic and oil together till a fine paste.  Add dry spices and salt and sugar and mix together. Set aside.
2.    Make cuts lengthwise into the green parts of the lemongrass leaving 2 inches from the leaves uncut.  Bunch the stalks together with kitchen twine to make a basting brush.  Mix a bowl of water with 2 tablespoons of canola oil and set aside as basting liquid.
3.    Trim chicken of fat and cut chicken into small cubes 1 X 3/8 X 1 inch.  Marinate chicken in marinade at least 30 minutes. Skewer chicken with the bamboo skewers. Scrape off marinade bits.
4.    On a hot oiled grill/broiler on high, grill chicken skewers – about 2 minutes on each side, or more depending on thickness, until nicely browned.  Baste with water mix as you grill.
To make the sauce:
5.    In a food processor, grind all Peanut Sauce Spice Paste ingredients together
6.    In a sauce pan, heat oil on medium high.  Saute spice mixture till fragrant and oil separates.  Add remaining sauce ingredients and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, till mixture is thick.
Serving:
7.    Cut cucumber at an angle, avoiding the seeds.  Rotate cucumber per cut.
8.    Cut onions into small wedges.  Serve satay with peanut sauce and cut cucumbers and onions.
Serves: 10