Locomotoring

Have you noticed that sometimes youTube algorithm gets stuck and wants to show you a particular video. It happened with me recently and the video that kept popping up on my stream was, “How to make 8 Kinds of Laksa from Southeast Asia” by the Analytical Cook. South Asian food is complex and I have barely scratched the surface of this complex cuisine. The thought of grokking eight different kinds of a complex dish was overwhelming but at some point, I gave in and started watching.

A few minutes into the video, I realized that I have been growing “Laksa leaves” in my yard. I have known them as Vietnamese coriander or rau răm (persicaria odorata). They don’t look or taste anything like coriander, but the reason I had started growing them is because they had looked unfamiliar. I am a sucker for unfamiliar herbs. The reason they have continued growing is because of its nature, it is a hardy perennial spreader in the USDA hardiness zone 9-11. For the last two years, I have been using them somewhat haphazardly – they remind me of the pepperiness of the Indian paan leaves (piper betle).

The Analytical Cook was presenting how to consume the laksa leaves correctly and that too in huge amounts! In a Laksa curry, these leaves are foundational.

My rau răm was in desperate need of a trim and hence, I decided to make a bowl (or four) of laksa. I chose simplicity – tofu skin and tofu for protein. The laksa paste was prepared in Vitamix and contained lemongrass stem (homegrown), onion, ginger, and galangal in an oil base. For color, I decided to rely on turmeric, a subsequent splash of coconut milk gave the laksa a golden color. The broth was made by hot steeping ginger skin, laksa stem and leaves, muddled makrut lime leaves (also homegrown) and lemongrass leaves. For spiciness, I used my salt fermented habanero chili sauce (habanero/orange capsicum/celery). For the salt and sour, I added fish sauce and makrut lime juice. For the sweet, I added some jaggery, a highly prized date palm jaggery (khejur gud) from my hometown, an ingredient I use on special occasions. For toppings, I used store bought buna shimeji (brown beech mushrooms) and sugarsnap peas. And the final touch – a sprinkling of finely chopped laksa leaves.

You bet I was proud. Not because it tasted great – south Asian curries taste great by design. But because several of the ingredients were labor of love – the two dozen year old makrut lime tree that started its life in a small pot and now grows wild in the yard, the lemongrass bunch that I had propagated from a store bought one (and a clone is waiting in a glass jar on my window sill for the next planting), the rau răm that I had neglected the last two years, and the salt fermented chili sauce.

If, like me, you decide to make Laksa, don’t forget to read the Analytical Cook’s further analysis (link).