.: evil jungle prince :.

As I "teach" myself various Asian dishes, I find that my three main challenges are typically:

1. Presentation. How do I present the dish if I've never seen it before?

2. Ingredients. How can I learn to authentically replicate a dish when it is at times next to impossible to find the required ingredients?

3. Meat to Veggie. How can I alter dishes that are traditionally meat-based into something suitable for a largely vegetarian diet and still remain true to the dish?

There are no answers, of course -- only challenges. In this case, I have never eaten Siamese laksa lemak, seen it, or even tasted it. But after spotting this recipe, I thought I'd just give it a try. As complex as the dish is, I was fortunate to have nearly all of the ingredients on hand. (Exceptions: I have no idea what a candlenut is and obviously don't have any. I don't have access to real tamarinds and used concentrate rather than skins. I don't know what a laksa noodle is and used Taiwanese flour noodles. There were also a few toppings I was lacking but didn't worry about it -- I was more concerned with the getting the bumbu right.)

Some of laksa lemak recipes I saw called for seafood and meat toppings -- I used tofu instead. Being a laksa lemak virgin, I can't comment on the authenticity of my rendition, but I can at least say that I thought the result was quite delicious. Very complex and savory, I'll save this one for nights I want to set my mouth on fire. (Which is more often than you might think.)

I think I'm falling in love with Malaysian food. I don't suppose there are there any Malay familes out there interested in adopting lil ole me?