The Malay word asam refers to any ingredient that makes a dish taste sour (e.g. The most common toppings for the various versions of coconut soup laksa include eggs, deep-fried tofu, beansprouts, and herbs, with a spoonful of sambal chilli paste on the side as a relish. "Laksa" is also an alternate name used for curry mee, a similar coconut soup noodle dish widely popular within the region which is sometimes known as curry laksa. Lemak is a Malay culinary description that specifically refers to the presence of coconut milk which adds a distinctive richness to a dish, whereas Nyonya alludes to the dish's Peranakan origins and the role of women in Peranakan cuisine. Laksa with a rich and strongly spiced coconut gravy is typically described in Malaysia and Singapore as Laksa Lemak or Nyonya Laksa ( Laksa Nyonya). Another popular garnish used for many laksa recipes is the unopened flower bud of the torch ginger, usually sliced or shredded.Ĭoconut milk adds a distinctive richness or lemak quality to laksa broth. Two of the most widely used herbs are mint and Vietnamese coriander, known in Malay as daun kesum or by its colloquial name daun laksa "laksa leaf". ![]() Most preparations of laksa are garnished with herbs. Laksa can be broadly categorized by its two main ingredients: noodles and soup. Ingredients Ī wide variety of laksa exists in Southeast Asia, with regional and vendor-specific differences. ![]() As Peranakan Chinese communities have blended their ancestors' culture with local culture, Peranakan communities in different places now demonstrate diversity according to the local flavour. This creates the hybrid Chinese-local (Malay or Javanese) culture called Peranakan culture. When settling down in the new town, these Chinese traders and sailors set out to find local wives, and these women began incorporating local spices and coconut milk into Chinese noodle soup served to their husbands. In early coastal pecinan (Chinese settlement) in maritime Southeast Asia, it was only Chinese men that ventured abroad out from China to trade. Historians believe laksa is a dish that was born from actual intermarriage. In Indonesia, the dish is believed to have been born from the mixing of the cultures and cooking practices of local people and Chinese immigrants. In Singapore, the dish is believed to have been created after interaction between the Peranakans with the local Singaporean Malays. In Malaysia, the earliest variant of laksa is believed to have been introduced by the Peranakan Chinese in Malacca. These Chinese men intermarried into the local populations, and together they formed mixed-race communities called the Peranakans or Straits Chinese. However, it was after this that the number of Chinese migrants and traders significantly increased. Overseas Chinese migrants had settled in various parts of Maritime Southeast Asia, long before Zheng He's expedition. Īnother theory about the dish's origins goes back to the 15th century Ming Chinese naval expeditions led by Zheng He, whose armada navigated Maritime Southeast Asia. The term laksa or lakhshah is also believed to have come from Persian or Hindi which refer to a kind of vermicelli. In Sanskrit, laksa means "one hundred thousand", referring to numerous strands of the vermicelli. Hanglaksa in Kawi means "vermicelli maker". Essai d'histoire globale II (The Javanese Crossroads: Towards a Global History, 2005), one of the earliest record of the word laksa to describe noodles was found in the Javanese Biluluk inscription dated from 1391 of Majapahit era that mentions the word hanglaksa. According to Denys Lombard in the book Le carrefour Javanais. One theory is that the word laksa is theorised to come from an ancient Persian word for "noodles". There are various theories about the origins of laksa. The intensive trade links among these port cities enables exchanges of ideas to take place, including sharing recipes. Nevertheless, numbers of laksa recipes has been developed along the trade channels of Southeast Asia-where the ports of Penang, Medan, Malacca, Singapore, Palembang, and Batavia (now Jakarta) are the major stops along the historic spice route. Because laksa has different varieties across the region, it is difficult to pinpoint the exact origin of the dish. ![]() ![]() Laksa is one of the most popular dishes of Peranakan origin, with a diverse variety of ingredients and preparation processes that vary greatly by region.
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