Culinary festival takes regional journey via laksa

Maria Endah Hulupi, Contributor, Jakarta

Clear or rich, tang or savory, laksa is one of the most versatile soups that comes in many different versions. In addition, this one-meal dish is proof that the Malay people of Southeast Asia have a shared culinary heritage.

The dish, which literally means "ten thousand" and indicates a wealth of tradition and customs, has its roots in the Baba-Nyonya cuisine of old that thrived in the region. Like other Baba-Nyonya cuisine, laksa is characterized by the abundant use of Malay spices and fragrant herbs blended with Chinese ingredients, like tofu, noodle and rice vermicelli.

As Nyonya cuisine and culture flourished mostly in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, laksa too is known in these countries whose indigenous communities have developed their own versions of this spicy and fragrant soup. It is also common practice in the region to lend a local name to the soup. Some of the more popular versions are laksa Penang, laksa Singapore and laksa Betawi.

"Actually, Myanmar and Thailand also have similar dishes, but they prepare it differently. So do people in Malaysia. This is why, even though they use the same spices and ingredients to make laksa, each state comes up with its own distinct flavor," said Datin Amy Hamidon, the wife of Malaysian Ambassador to Indonesia Dato' Hamidon Ali, during a briefing for the Laksas of Malaysia Fest culinary festival.

The 9-day festival, which opens on Jan. 19 at the Intercontinental Midplaza Jakarta's Java restaurant, features nine varieties of Malaysian laksa: laksa Penang, laksa Kuala Perlis, laksa Kedah, laksa Nyonya Melaka, laksa Pahang, laksa Johor, curry laksa, laksa Sarawak and laksam from Kelantan. Three kinds of laksa are featured each day and, to complete the culinary experience, are accompanied by other popular dishes from Malaysian states.

The festival is jointly organized by the hotel and the Malaysian tourism board, and its proceeds will go to two orphanages in Aceh caring for children who lost their families to the tsunami disaster.

The event is also supported by Perwakilan Jakarta -- the Malaysian Embassy Women's Association -- of which 30 members have shared their family laksa recipes with the hotel's kitchen staff.

Most laksa, Datin explained, were cooked in fish or prawn shell broth. "Once the broth is cool, the prawn shells are usually squeezed to fully extract the flavor. Then the other spices are added," she said.

To serve the soup, noodles, vermicelli, chayote, bean sprouts, thinly sliced pineapples, hard-boiled eggs and other condiments are added to a bowl, over which the steaming hot laksa broth is ladled.

Freshly squeezed lemon juice and chili sauce give the dish extra zest.

Despite its endless variety, laksa can be differentiated according to the broth.

Tangy, tamarind-based laksa include laksas Penang, Kuala Perlis and Kedah, while the remaining versions are based on coconut milk.

Laksa Johor tastes similar to laksa Penang, both using oodles of noodles and dried fish. But laksa Johor is unique because instead of using rice- or egg noodles, its noodle of choice is spaghetti. It is thought that this European ingredient may have found its way into the Malay dish during the time of Sultan Johor, who traveled extensively and kept European mistresses.

Aside from Chinese and European influence, laksas in northern Malaysia, like Kedah, Penang and Kuala Perlis, have more pronounced Thai flavors because of their abundant use of Thai herbs.

In Sarawak, the dish is flavored with only cinnamon and aniseed, while the ethnic Chinese in Kuala Lumpur and Perak created curry laksa by mixing in a variety of spices, and a strong Chinese influence can be detected in Kelantan's laksam.

"Interestingly, laksa Nyonya Melaka (Malaysia) closely resembles Indonesia's laksa Betawi. Both have a strong Chinese influence in the spices and fish balls," said Datin.

For the festival, several spices were brought in from Malaysia, while others from markets in Jakarta. Still others, like daun kesum, were grown in the hotel's herb garden.

Finding the ingredients can be quite a challenge, because even though the spices and herbs used in laksa are common throughout the region, they have different names. To ensure authenticity, however, some key ingredients must be imported from Malaysia.

"We want to stick to the ingredients that have been used for laksa for generations," Datin said.