The anti-inflammatory Malaysian broth everyone should learn to make — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00Traditional anti-inflammatory recipes
2. 0:02are hidden across the world, but many of
3. 0:04us don't get to try and benefit from
4. 0:06them. So, I'm traveling 6,000 miles to
5. 0:08the food capital of Malaysia to track
6. 0:11down this authentic noodle soup, and
7. 0:13I'll show you how to easily make a high
8. 0:16protein twist at home.
9. 0:25>> Hey, Cheers. Cheers. Can I try the Laxa?
10. 0:28Yeah, I'll try one Laxa. Okay.
11. 0:31Here you are.
12. 0:32>> Oh, wow. It looks incredible. I love the
13. 0:35uh the crab, red onion. Wow. I've never
14. 0:38had laxa like this before. It's got a
15. 0:41cleaner texture to it. It doesn't feel
16. 0:43too overly coconuty. And apparently I
17. 0:45have to use this sweet prawn paste to
18. 0:48mellow the sourness. If you want it less
19. 0:50sour, you add more. Phenomenal. It's one
20. 0:52of the best things I've tried. Can you
21. 0:54talk me through like how how you make
22. 0:56the laxa? come from fish bone.
23. 0:59>> Fish bone.
24. 1:00>> Oh, okay.
25. 1:01>> Including some special ingredients,
26. 1:03lemon glass, onions, pineapple.
27. 1:05>> And you add crab meat on top.
28. 1:07>> Yes. Different restaurant have this
29. 1:09different
30. 1:10>> different version.
31. 1:11>> Okay. Mine is is come from my
32. 1:13grandmother.
33. 1:14>> Okay.
34. 1:14>> I'm third generation.
35. 1:16>> That's is that your grandmother?
36. 1:17>> Okay. Right.
37. 1:19>> We need to make sure the the soup is
38. 1:21hot.
39. 1:21>> But this our traditional way to uh cool
40. 1:24down.
41. 1:24>> Okay. To steam the vegetables.
42. 1:26>> Yes. Yes. Yes. Okay. Very very
43. 1:28traditional way.
44. 1:29>> And then you finish off with the onions
45. 1:31and the Thank you so much, man. I
46. 1:33appreciate that.
47. 1:42>> I had the most delicious asam laka in
48. 1:45Panang. I'm trying to recreate it. The
49. 1:48origins of the dish laxa are thought to
50. 1:50have been around the coastal areas of
51. 1:52Malaysia where the local fishermen used
52. 1:53like different ingredients and just
53. 1:55pulled something together. This kind of
54. 1:57laxa is different to the typical laxas
55. 1:59that we get in the UK and perhaps in the
56. 2:01US as well. It's got a clearer broth, a
57. 2:03much sort of stronger fish taste that I
58. 2:06personally love. And you mellow that
59. 2:08with some fruit, which I've never seen
60. 2:09on Alexa before. They use pineapple. I'm
61. 2:12going to be using papaya. I'm going to
62. 2:13use similar ingredients to create the
63. 2:15broth. I've cheated a little bit. I've
64. 2:18already cooked uh the prawns for which
65. 2:20these are the shells. Instead of
66. 2:22throwing away the shells like a lot of
67. 2:23people do, please clean them and make
68. 2:26fish stock from them. They are amazing
69. 2:28sources of nutrition. You get loads of
70. 2:30flavor. I missed the bin. This is going
71. 2:33to go into the water that I've already
72. 2:34cooked the prawns in. Those shells have
73. 2:37immediately gone pink. In a typical
74. 2:39laxa, they use something called laxa
75. 2:40leaves. Deum kessum, also known as
76. 2:43Vietnamese coriander or laxa leaf. I'm
77. 2:45using a whole bunch of these all in.
78. 2:47We're going to bash some lemongrass and
79. 2:49we're just going to use the base, but
80. 2:52because I'm not going to waste these,
81. 2:53these are also going to go in. I've got
82. 2:55some end cuts of spring onions. I didn't
83. 2:57really have any other use for them in
84. 2:58any of the recipe. So, I'm going to add
85. 3:00them to the broth. I've got some young
86. 3:02ginger. They would tend to use galangal.
87. 3:04Young ginger is what I've got in this
88. 3:06kitchen here. So, that's what I'm going
89. 3:08to be using. Oh, you know, I should be
90. 3:09using my pestle and mortar. I don't know
91. 3:10why we So, just bashing them out. I'm
92. 3:12using it rough because I need to fish
93. 3:13out these ingredients. Excuse the pan.
94. 3:17Do you like that one? I'm going to just
95. 3:19bash some garlic. Again, this goes in.
96. 3:21I've just got some mushrooms. They're
97. 3:23going to go in and flavor the base of
98. 3:24that sauce. Tamarind. Now, this tamarind
99. 3:27is really important. This is super sour.
100. 3:31Woo! This is proper good stuff. In
101. 3:33supermarkets in the UK, you can get
102. 3:35tamarind paste. It's actually quite
103. 3:37sweet. They add a lot of sugar to it.
104. 3:39You want to be in control of the sugar
105. 3:41that you add to your food. So, you want
106. 3:43to just get the whole ingredient.
107. 3:44There's no need for any salt or sugar or
108. 3:46any preservative to be added to this. In
109. 3:48the original recipe, a very important
110. 3:50part of it is shrimp paste, but I've
111. 3:53been told by my video crew here that I'm
112. 3:55not allowed to use shrimp paste cuz it
113. 3:57just tastes too strong. So, I'm not
114. 3:58going to use the shrimp paste with this.
115. 4:00I am going to use a little bit of chili
116. 4:01paste to add that background heat that I
117. 4:03want. But, if you are trying to be true
118. 4:05to the original recipe, um, then use
119. 4:07shrimp paste. I don't think it actually
120. 4:08needs it because those prawn shells
121. 4:10impart enough of that fish essence that
122. 4:13I personally love. So, I'm just going to
123. 4:14go in with some chili oil. Yeah, buddy.
124. 4:17That is nutrition in a saucepan right
125. 4:21there. I haven't added any salt to that.
126. 4:23So, we're going to use soy. This will
127. 4:24need to stew and break down for at least
128. 4:2845 minutes. Lower, slower boil if you
129. 4:31really want to get as much flavor from
130. 4:33this laxa.
131. 4:39This has been cooking for about 45
132. 4:42minutes or so. You can smell the flavor.
133. 4:45It is incredible on its own. This is the
134. 4:48only sieve I've got. I wouldn't use
135. 4:50plastic. This is what I'm working with.
136. 4:51Okay, guys. So, don't judge me. I'm just
137. 4:53going to pop this into the bowl and try
138. 4:55and catch any shells. So, this goes back
139. 4:58on. Whilst that was cooking, I made
140. 5:01these sweet potato noodles. These are
141. 5:04something that you can find in Malaysia.
142. 5:05They're made in Malaysia. Look at that.
143. 5:07This is going to make the dish look so
144. 5:09pretty. I've just bored them. put a
145. 5:11little bit of sesame oil just to make
146. 5:13sure that they're not claggy. The uh
147. 5:15essential part of the asam laka is this
148. 5:17technique that we saw in the street food
149. 5:19market in the in the restaurant. And
150. 5:21what they do is they put the greens at
151. 5:23the base of the bowl. I've got a
152. 5:24selection of different greens here. I've
153. 5:26got some kalan, some red spinach,
154. 5:28regular spinach at home. You could use
155. 5:30water crest, you could use torn up
156. 5:32chard. I'm just going to put it all at
157. 5:34the base here. We're going to do what
158. 5:36they did. Pour it in. So we wilt the
159. 5:39greens. Mash it up a bit. Then pour any
160. 5:42excess water making sure you don't
161. 5:44losing you're not losing your greens
162. 5:46goes back in. And so this method is
163. 5:48actually adding more flavor to the
164. 5:50original broth. If you imagine a big vat
165. 5:52of this and you're constantly doing this
166. 5:54wilting again and again and again and
167. 5:56you're not watering down the broth that
168. 5:58ends up in your bowl. So it's a really
169. 6:00interesting technique that I loved
170. 6:02watching. I'm going to do this one more
171. 6:03time. And these are nicely wilted and
172. 6:05the flavor has permeated these greens
173. 6:08right here. I'm going to add some
174. 6:09different elements to my laxa bowl.
175. 6:11These are fried bean curd. I'd use
176. 6:14marinated. You could use leftover bits
177. 6:16of proteins, whatever you have. Chicken.
178. 6:18My cooked prawns from the fridge. I'm
179. 6:21going to chop these ones up and then
180. 6:22garnish with a few. This is going to go
181. 6:25in the base here. Sweet potato noodles.
182. 6:27You know this is going to be good. You
183. 6:29know it. I'm going to pour this
184. 6:31delicious concentrated broth over our
185. 6:34ingredients here. We've done all the
186. 6:35hard work. That broth has got all the
187. 6:37nutrition. It's just all about
188. 6:39decoration. Now, guys, fresh red onion
189. 6:41they use in the traditional recipe. Just
190. 6:43sliced on the side. I'm going to add
191. 6:44this here. A little bit of chili. Now,
192. 6:47they use pineapple, which I think is
193. 6:49probably better than what I've opted to
194. 6:51go for, which is papaya. You could use
195. 6:53mango. I think it would require
196. 6:55something citrusy, something with a bit
197. 6:57of acidity to it. And this is probably a
198. 6:59little bit on the sweeter side. Not
199. 7:01forgetting the bean sprouts. Couple of
200. 7:03other elements. Chili oil. Serve it in
201. 7:05the same way that they did, just on the
202. 7:07side. So you can choose how much heat,
203. 7:09how much sweet, how much sugar you want.
204. 7:11Vietnamese basil, just some flavor. I've
205. 7:14got some mint. Absolutely incredible. I
206. 7:16really feel like my inspiration meter is
207. 7:19just off the chain right now being here
208. 7:21in Pinang. Experiencing the culture, the
209. 7:23welcoming nature of the people, the
210. 7:26melting pot of different cuisines. This
211. 7:28definitely one of the prettiest dishes
212. 7:30I've made on this trip. Just to finish
213. 7:32with a final flourish of that citrus
214. 7:34flavor, I'm going to add some lime over
215. 7:36the top. If this was put in front of
216. 7:38you, it would just put a smile on your
217. 7:40face. This is a proper rainbow and it
218. 7:42reflects the nutritional value, the
219. 7:45flavor. This is my version of an asam
220. 7:48laxa that I'm going to call the doctor's
221. 7:50kitchen sweet purple potato laxa with
222. 7:53prawns and papaya. M. Oh my word.
223. 7:57This inspired dish is a lot less pungent
224. 8:00than that version that I tried. That
225. 8:03version was definitely more traditional.
226. 8:04This is a lot more light. It's a lot
227. 8:06more fragrant. This is going to
228. 8:08completely change the dish. Now, when I
229. 8:09add a little bit of that chili sauce,
230. 8:12instantly different. That lime at the
231. 8:14end as well, just giving that tang, that
232. 8:17zestiness. You got to try this. And if
233. 8:19you love the look of this recipe, you
234. 8:21will love the other recipes in this
235. 8:23series. Go check them out right now.