Mortar and Pestle--what an invention!

I'm still unemployed at the moment, and A. has been off to work ALL day, EVERY day since I quit my job. It's me, the dog, and the cat rattling around in our apartment. Technically, this is supposed to be dissertation time, but I can't get out of the kitchen! I've been experimenting with dishes I've already made, seeing if I can make them better, and I've got a few new recipes to try out. So, I redid the vegetable tart (originally posted Sept. 8), and it came out MUCH better. So much better that A. agreed that I could serve it if ever my vegetarian friends come over for dinner.

I also went to Chinatown and bought my own Thai-style mortar and pestle FINALLY. I used it to make laksa, and the results are so vastly improved that A. said I could make it for her Singaporean friends. Heavens! I am improving my leaps and bounds. So, disregard the post of Sept. 24, though I will leave it up, and do this instead (if you have a mortar and pestle):

Rempah (rempah is a shrimp paste):

10 Chillies
some dried prawns
2 slices lemon grass
15 slices blue ginger
10 shallots
2 T. belachan
1 T. turmeric

Put everything but the turmeric in your mortar, and with a circular, not-too-forceful motion, grind it in to a paste. When it's all paste-like, stir in the turmeric. This is ingredient #1 for the rest of the recipe.

Now I'm guilty of that thing that drives me nuts in A.'s mom's emails--she doesn't put how *much* of the ingredients to put it. Well, sometimes it's not that important; if you hate bean sprouts, don't put them in, if you LOVE bean sprouts put a bunch in. Either way. I've consistently neglected to put the shredded cucumber on top, but A. hasn't complained about it. OK, onward!

Rempah (see above)
2 C. water (or shrimp stock, which you can make from the heads and shells of the boiled prawns)
2 cans of coconut milk
1 lb. Prawns or shrimp - peeled and boiled
Fishballs - boiled
A handful of mung bean sprouts - boiled
Beehoon (rice vermicelli) boiled and rinsed in cold water
Cucumber (for garnishing) - shredded
Laksa leaf (daun kesom) - wash and shred

Stir fry the rempah, adding a little sprinkle of water now and then to prevent burning. When the rempah is very fragrant (after a few minutes) add the rest of the water (or stock). Stir over medium-low heat. Pour in the coconut milk, stir and simmer. When hot, add the boiled prawns and fishballs. In the menatime, put your boiled and rinsed noodles into three to four big bowls. To serve, ladle the laksa over the noodles, garnish with sprouts, cucumber, and laksa leaves. Serve with chopsticks and a big spoon.

Laksa Beehoon

OK, READ THE STORY IF YOU WANT, BUT GO TO MARCH 29, 2008'S POST FOR THE IMPROVED RECIPE AND INSTRUCTIONS!

Months ago A. told me that Laksa Beehoon, a dish on the menu at a little Thai-Japanese fusion restaurant, reminded her of home--that it was "comfort food" for her. After much searching around on the internet, I had found a number of laksa recipes, but none that was "like what her mum made." So, A. emailed her mum, explaining that we had found a few of the more difficult to locate Malaysian ingredients in Chinatown, and could she please send a laksa recipe.

Auntie R. replied with the beginnings of a recipe, with some of the ingredient amounts not specified, and many of the ingredients not explained at all. It was as though she started writing it all down for us, but the more she described what we needed to get and to do, the less she thought we'd be able to pull it off. Her email was concluded by saying, "I think the laksa will be difficult."

Nevertheless, I wrote everything down carefully and went to my two Thai grocery stores in Chinatown--the one on Mulberry and the one of Bayard. I got the belachan (see the Sunday NY Times travel magazine, the last page, for an article on belachan), the lemon grass leaves, the laksa leaves, the dried prawns, the chilies, etc., etc.

Tonight was the moment of reckoning: I took my handful of knowledge, my many ingredients, and my half of a recipe, and I made laksa beehoon. Here it is translated and converted into U.S. measurements.

10 chilies (fresh or dried)
15 shallots
15 slices of blue ginger
2 T. Belachan
2 stalks of lemongrass, chopped into 1" chunks
1/2 C. little dried shrimps
1 T. turmeric
3 C. water
2 or 3 cans of coconut milk (Auntie R. said 60 ounces, but that seems like a lot for dinner for 4, I only had 1 can on hand, but A. said that more would have been better)
1 T. sugar
1 1/2 T. salt
prawns (we used about a pound)
beehoon (rice noodles, about the thickness of spaghetti)
shredded cucumber
bean sprouts
shredded laksa leaves (I got these from the grocery on Mulberry St. They're not placed out with the other groceries, but I asked the nice gentleman working the vegetable stand for them, and he pulled them right out for me)
"some" fishballs (I forgot the fishballs; these, too, were missed; I don't know exactly where to find them yet)

In a wok stir fry the first 6 ingredients in a little smidge of olive oil until they are "fragrant." Add the turmeric and stir it all up. Once your kitchen smells like onions and dried shrimp paste, slowly add the water. When it's hot and ready, add the coconut milk, then the salt and sugar. Lastly, throw in the prawns, which will cook in just a few minutes. Don't overcook the coconut milk or the prawns.

Cook the noodles separately. To serve, put the noodles in your bowls, pour the wok mixture over top of them. Garnish with the shredded cucumber, shredded laksa leaves, bean sprouts, and the fishballs.

OK. I'll figure out the fishball thing and post more on that later.

2/24/08 UPDATE: I found the fish balls in a little fish store in Chinatown. I also got prawns (heads on) for only $4.39 a pound. What a deal!