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I saw this ad from The Edge, Melbourne yesterday. I liked the layout, I found it relaxing and very personal. Perhap thats the whole idea of this ad, to get upclose and personal about Malaysia. But there is a small correction on the text. (you can see this on the correction layout I did). Being Malaysian, I know the different between Assam Laksa and Curry Laksa. These is two different dish. Below is the explaination of these two dishes.
Assam Laksa, one of the Malay‘s famous dish, originally came from the northern site of Malaysia, Kedah, Perlis and “Pulau Pinang”Penang. Assam laksa is a sour fish-based soup. Asam (or asam jawa) is the Malay word for tamarind, which is commonly used to give the stock its sour flavor. It is also common to use “asam keping” also known as “asam gelugor”, dried slices of tamarind fruit, for added sourness. Modern Malay spelling is asam, though the spelling assam is still frequently used.
The main ingredients for assam laksa include shredded fish, normally “kembung fish” or mackerel, and finely sliced vegetables including cucumber, onions, red chillis, pineapple, lettuce, common mint, “daun kesom” (Vietnamese mint or laksa mint) and pink bunga kantan (ginger buds). Assam laksa is normally served with either thick rice noodles or thin rice noodles (vermicelli). And topped off with “petis udang” or “hae ko” or “otak udang as the Northen people of Malaysia would said”, is a thick sweet prawn paste. Variants of Assam Laksa is “Penang Laksa” (slightly different from normal Assam Laksa, usually with the garnish of pineapple pieces), and “Laksa Campur” (same Assam Laksa but garnish with “sambal’ cooked chilies prawn and calamari).
Curry Laksa, which in many places referred as ‘laksa’ is a is a coconut-based curry soup with vermicelli or yellow wheat noodle. The main ingredients for most versions of curry laksa include tofu puffs, fish sticks, shrimp and cockles. Laksa is commonly served with a spoonful of sambal chilli paste and is traditionally garnished with Vietnamese coriander, or laksa leaf, which is known in Malay as “daun kesum”. This is usually known as “Curry mee” in Penang rather than curry laksa, due to the different kind of noodles used (yellow mee or bee hoon (vermicelli), as opposed to the thick white laksa noodles). The name “Curry laksa” is more commonly used in Singapore. Variants of curry laksa included Laksa Lemak also known as Nyonya Laksa, Katong Laksa (variants of Laksa Lemak from Singapore) and Laksam (a speciality of the East Coast Malaysian state, Kelantan.
Although this two dishes is a soup base noodle, personally for me, it is still a huge different when it comes to the taste.
| View the ad | Assam Laksa or Penang Laksa |
Curry Laksa |
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