Claypot Sarawak Laksa made from Barrett's

My first encounter with Sarawak Laksa, which is a laksa from Malaysia, Sarawak State, Kuching, was when I was in Kuala Lumpur eating my way around the city (my previous blog here). I've always wanted to make this laksa myself but the flavor was quite mysterious and I forgot exactly how this laksa tasted like. Thanks to my good Singaporean friend / mentor / living makan dictionary secretly known as tiantianchi, he kindly purchased me this Sarawak laksa paste -a local Sarawak brand called Barrett's. I quickly assembled my kitchen team to make this Sarawak laksa -perhaps the first Japanese ever to prepare this and at the same time, we may well be the very first bunch of curious gourmet junkies to eat Sarawak laksa in Tokyo -I challenge people out there whose ever done what we have.... and all the credit goes to tiantianchi and his gracious effort -Thank you! I put the paste in the pot with our lip-smacking chicken soup and added some toasted belachan and oyster sauce for depth. I also added some crab innard paste(kani miso) for complexity (it kind of resembles concentrated prawn stock). Together with beehoon noodles, shredded chicken, shrimp, julienned omelette and cucumber -voila! a truly addictive laksa and it really tasted like the one I had in Malaysia. The ingredients were written on the package: chiles, galangal, peanuts, candlenuts, shallots, garlic, lemongrass and spices. The mystery here is the spices. What are they putting in? I am guessing coriander seed, star anise (lots?), and a bit of clove. It kind of resembled the flavor of Worchestershire sauce and some even said it smelt like Vegemite! And why claypot? Well, it surely sounds nicer doesn't it?

サラワッラクサは以前、ブログしたのでここをクリック。今回のシンガポール出張で私のブログを読んだ友人にサラワッラクサペーストをなんと頂いた。シンガポールでは入手困難なので、感激である。このラクサはニョニャラクサ、カリーラクサ、カトンラクサとは味が全く違う。とにかくクセのあるスパイスが効いていて、色も少しグレー色をしている。唯一似ているところといえばココナッツミルクが入るところだろうか。パッケージには原材料としてチリ、ガランガル、ピーナッツ、キャンドルナッツ、エシャロット、にんにく、レモングラス、スパイスとなっている。肝心な味はスパイスからくるがパッケージには記載されていない。味はクローブやアニス系のスパイスを感じる。スタッフの間ではウスターソース系やベジマイト（オーストラリア）の風味があるという指摘もあった。トッピングはチキン、海老、錦糸卵、もやし、千切りのキュウリ。