The Secret Of Sarawak Laksa Paste Revealed - My 500th Post

After two years and a month of blogging later, I am pleased to present you my 500th post. To celebrate such an important milestone I decided to reveal one of the world's most secretly guarded recipes of all time - Sarawak (or Kuching) laksa paste.

While curry laksa and Asam/Penang laksa (both from the Peninsular) is gaining popularity by the day worldwide, Sarawak laksa and food from the state remains relatively unknown outside of the State Of Sarawak. 

For years the productions of Sarawak laksa paste has been monopolized by a handful of families in Kuching. With no recipe of the laksa ever been published in any form and those with the recipe refusing to share even with their closest kins, most people have no choice but to continue buying the readymade paste that has quadrupled in price in the last five years.

Together with my friend M who is a Kuchingnite, we managed to decode the recipe and somehow improved on the readymade pastes that have gone down hill on the quality department. We decided to use more red chillies in our paste and slightly reduce the amount of dried spices in our version - the result is a much brighter, less cloying and more rounded tasting paste.

With this post I hope more food lovers outside of Sarawak will get to taste this delicious dish for the very first time. So please share it through tweet, stumbleupon and facebook to tell everyone about this historical moment :)

P.S the flavours of the paste will develop further after a few days. Use only dried chillies if you prefer a paste as dark as the shop bought one. 

recipe from the tummies' kitchen
makes about 20 cups (halve the recipe for a smaller quantity)
you'll need;
20 shallots (650 g), chopped
10 single bulb garlics, (300 g), chopped
2 large knob of galangal (650 g), chopped
20 long red chillies, cut into chunks
10 lemongrass (white parts only), chopped
1 cup of dried chillies, soaked in hot water for 20 minutes
100 g of candlenuts*
1 cup of sesame seeds, toasted
1.5 cups of peanut
100 g of cummin seeds, dry toasted and ground in a spice grinder
300 g of coriander seeds, dry toasted and ground in a spice grinder
12 star anise, dry toasted and ground in a spice grinder
15 cloves, dry toasted and ground in a spice grinder
3 nutmegs, ground in a spice grinder
20 cardamons, seeds removed from pods

you'll also need;
10 tbs of salt
20 tbs of sugar
1 packet of tamarind bulbs, mixed with a cup of boiling water and strained

Prepare all the ingredients for blending.

Blend ingredients together with the ground spices in batches until smooth.

Add 4 cups of oil to a wok or a large pot and cook spice paste on medium heat, stirring constantly.

When oil starts to separate (~ 1 hour), add in the tamarind water, salt and sugar and continue to cook for a further 15 to 20 minutes. 

You are now one step closer to tasting Kuching laksa for the first time. For how to prepare Sarawak or Kuching laksa at home please click on Sarawak Laksa - The Strange But Wonderful Food Of Kuching 2