The Unauthentic Laksa

Since my last trip back to KL (in which my dad took me to an old favorite hawker and hovered over the poor woman to make sure she increased the amount of tau-foo puffs in my curry laksa since I wouldn’t eat prawns) I have developed an unexplainable obsession for rice noodles and South East Asian spiciness.

These skinny, long, transparent bundles have suddenly made their comeback as Talia’s Carbs of Choice -which according to boohee.com, my newest favorite source of calorie content information-is 346 calories per 100 grams.

I've recently made my own non-authentic version of a laksa (that would probably cause Malaysian hawker food snobs to snicker and point)using pumpkin, tofu and a ready made packet of laksa paste (further jeering).

It actually did taste pretty good, so if you don't want to continue eating seafood based laksa for the rest of your life and want to live a little...

Non-Authentic Vegetarian Laksa
Adapted from Kidspot.com.au

Traditional vs. non-traditional ingredients

This recipe serves 4, -though as my pictures might suggest, I made mine for ONE

400g pumpkin, chopped into bite-sized pieces
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt
200g rice noodles (I used organic, brown rice vermicelli)

1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 tomato, peeled and sliced
1 packet laksa paste (I used the IKAN BRAND Traditional Johor Laksa paste)
1 cup vegetable stock
400ml tin coconut milk
1/2 cup frozen tofu (defrosted and cut into bite sized cubes)
1/2 cup bean sprouts
juice of 1 lime

1. Preheat oven to 200°C. Toss pumpkin with vegetable oil and salt. Place on a baking sheet and into the hot oven, and roast for about 15 minutes or until golden.
2. Place the rice noodles in a large bowl and pour over enough boiling water to cover the noodles by at least 2.5cm. Set aside to soak for 3-4 minutes, or until softened. Drain with a colander and set aside.
3. In the same large pot, heat 1 teaspoon oil and cook the tomato slices over medium heat for a few minutes to release juices. Add the laksa paste and stock, then bring a boil. Add roasted pumpkin and tofu, allow it to simmer for at least 2 minutes. Stir in the coconut milk and bring to a simmer.
4. Finally, add the bean sprouts and simmer until almost cooked but still a bit crunchy. Season with lime juice.
5. To serve, divide the rice noodles among 2-4 bowls, ladle the hot soup over. You can garnish it with sliced spring onions and/or coriander leaves if you prefer.

The Not-Very-Authentic, Nor Photogenic but Tasty Bowl of Laksa

Oriental Veggie Wrappo

I love the vegetable wrap from Element Fresh, one of my favorite health-freak places to eat in Beijing and Shanghai. I almost always grab one of these wraps at the Hongqiao Airport for fear of going hungry on China Eastern Airlines, where they give you a nasty roujiamo (something like a chinese burger) wrapped in foil for the 2 hour flight back to Beijing.

Anyway, it's getting to be an expensive craving to fulfill regularly because I live a good 35 kuai taxi ride away from the Sanlitun branch in Beijing. So, on a boring weekend afternoon, I decided to try and reinvent something more economical. This is what I came up with...

The Oriental Veggie Wrappo

Ingredients:
2 flour tortillas (see recipe that follows if you too, have a lot of time and flour in your hands)

For the filling
1/2 large carrot, peeled
2 stalks celery
2 cubes five-spice dried bean curd
1/2 cup enoki Mushrooms
1/2 red bell pepper
1/2 cup bamboo shoots (packaged, ready to eat)

1/2 tsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp olive oil



1. Julienne the carrot, celery, bean curd and bamboo shoots into thin strips/matchsticks. Slice slice and slice away! Then, set aside.

2. Roast Bell Peppers and Enoki Mushrooms*:
Preheat oven to 230 C. Slice the bell pepper into strips and coat with 1 tsp olive oil. In a bowl, rub the enoki mushrooms with 1 tsp olive oil, sesame oil and soy sauce. Spread pepper and mushrooms in a single layer on a baking sheet, place on baking sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes until mushrooms are cooked and bell peppers are slightly browned. Allow to cool before using.

3. Spread the ingredients evenly on your tortillas. Roll up each tortilla and cut each rolled wrap in half diagonally. Enjoy.

*Alternatively, you can just stir fry them if you're in a rush, or if you like to eat your peppers raw, you can skip this~~




Note: The dried bean curd I bought was extremely flavorful and salty, so I didn't need to use much seasonings for the other veggies.

Homemade Flour Tortillas

From Classic Breads: Delicious Recipes from All Around the World

Original Recipe makes 10 tortillas, but mine were a little big so I got 7...

5 cups + 650g all purpose flour
2 1/4 tsp dry yeast
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp margarine
1 cup + 370 g hot water

1. Mix in flour, yeast and salt in a bowl. Add the margarine (I formed some crumbs with my fingers)and slowly pour the hot water into the bowl. Transfer the dough to a floured work surface and knead for about 10 minutes, until the dough is elastic and compact. Place in a well-greased bowl, cover and let sit for 10 minutes.
2. Turn the dough out onto the work surface and divide it into 10 small, equal-sized balls. Roll these out with a rolling pin to a thickness of 1/4 inch (5 mm) each.
3. Heat a iron skillet (or in my case, a frying pan) and when it is hot, cook the tortillas for about 1 minute on each side (until it looks kind of bubbly and brown spots start to appear). Remove from heat and set aside until needed.