Kelantan Laksa

Kelantan laksa (Malay: Laksa Kelantan) is the easiest laksa recipe that is famous among peoples from the town of Kota Bharu of the Kelantan state, located at the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia. The main ingredient of Kelantan Laksa's sauce is 'ikan kembong' or round scad mackerel that are boiled and minced. The minced fish are fried with onions, garlic, ginger, datil pepper, belacan, 'kantan' flower, Vietnamese coriander or 'daun kesum', lemon grass and dried tamarind slice. Coconut milk will then be added as the final ingredient and stirred until it all mixed up and become thick. Kelantan Laksa is served just like the Italian spaghetti by adding 'ulam' (raw vegetables) and blended chili on the side. Another variable of Kelantan Laksa is 'Laksam'. The sauce's recipe are exactly the same but the noodles are a bit bigger and flat.

Ingredients
3kg laksa noodles
1kg ikan kembung
1kg thick coconut milk
3 stalks lemongrass
15 shallots
3 cloves garlic
3 slices dried tamarind
palm sugar and salt to taste

Garnishing:
1 cucumber, pared and julienned
300g beansprout
2 onions, finely sliced
2 bunga kantan, finely cut
15 stalks daun kesum, finely cut

Method
Boil fish with two bowls of water, dried tamarind slice (to remove the fishy odour) and 1 teaspoon salt. Let cool, debone and flake the fish. Pound it.

Blend the lemongrass, shallots and garlic finely.

Add 1 bowl of thick coconut milk to 3 bowls of water. Boil the mixture with the blended ingredients and two slices of dried tamarind over a low fire, stirring constantly. When a layer of oil surfaces, add pounded fish with salt and palm sugar. Continue to stir. Add thick coconut milk slowly until required thickness is achieved. To serve, pour the laksa gravy over the noodles and garnish with the sliced vegetables.