Laksa Johor Classic/Vegan
Laksa Johor as the name suggests originates from the southern state of Peninsular Malaysia – Johor. Laksa Johor is unique compared to other laksa as the thick gravy itself is made from creamy coconut and fish base compared to Assam Penang Laksa for with its tangy tamarind soup base, or Laksa Sarawak with its chicken & shrimp broth spiced base. Another distinct feature of Laksa Johor is the noodles itself. Unlike most laksa that is paired with rice noodles, Laksa Johor is eaten with spaghetti!!! This heritage specialty from Johor tells a story! Laksa Johor is probably one of the first form of Malay cuisine that transports us all to East meets West Fusion Food in Malaysia.
Long time ago, Sultan Abu Bakar of Johor (1833- 1895) travelled to Italy and fell in love with spaghetti Bolognese – like who wouldn’t right? Anyways, upon His Majesty’s return to Johor, he requested for his palace chef to recreate spaghetti sauce with something Malaysian. Hence, the birth of Laksa Johor – fish and coconut-based gravy. The preparation of the gravy itself is labor intensive as it takes a village to remove the bones from the wolf herring fish (ikan parang). The sauce is then cooked with all the beautiful Asian herbs and spices, tamarind, a combo of the flaked poached wolf herring/mackeral fish, salted fish, dried prawns and anchovies to enhance the umami profile for the coconut gravy. The spaghetti, laksa gravy is then served with a few different raw Asian herbs & vegetables and sambal belacan for the extra kick!
Laksa Johor Vegan 无葱蒜
Vegan Laksa Johor without onion and garlic is available at Hawa’s Artisan Kitchen. We spoke to a few vegetarian/vegan friends and contacts in Lahad Datu and we would like for you to try our version of Vegan Laksa Johor.
We had our fair shares of trials and experiment for our Laksa Johor Vegan version. We must be honest it is “same same but different” in taste compared to the Classic Laksa Johor version. I mean let’s face it, the hero of Laksa Johor is the fish gravy.
Whilst we are aware that there are mock versions of fish in the market today, we are not comfortable to use mock meat or mock fish for our dishes. So, for the vegan version, we have replaced the fish with vegetables such as pumpkin and sweet potatoes. For the umami flavor we use mushroom sauce, seaweed and vegan belacan. We use lots of local kampung ginger, lemongrass, torch ginger flower, galangal and omit garlic and onion from both our gravy and sambal. Ohhhh I can already hear some of my carnivorous friends saying “Ohhh but garlic and onion are vegetables- why you omit it?”. Well, I initially thought the same too, but here in Lahad Datu, most of Chinese/Buddhist vegetarian do not eat 5 type of pungent plants which includes garlic and onion. So this is done out of respect for those who prefers this type of dietary requirements.
How do you eat Laksa Johor:
A good gravy is judged by its thickness as the Laksa Johor dish is eaten with fingers – fork and spoon not needed.
Laksa Johor is served with the following condiments:
- For the Vegan Laksa Johor version, the (V) indicated next to the list below would be included with your meal.
- Cucumber (V)
- Daun Kesum or Vietnamese coriander (V)
- Bunga Kantan or torch ginger flower (V)
- Taugeh or bean sprout (V)
- Kacan Panjang or long beans (V)
- Poh Chye or Chinese pickled raddish (V)
- Calamansi (V)
- Poached shrimp or squid (Hawa’s Artisan Kitchen version)
- Sambal Belacan or pounded chili with shrimp paste
- Vegan Sambal Belacan (V) – contains tomatoes, ginger, red chilies, birds eye chili, tamarind, vegan belacan and mushroom sauce
