Malaysia

Menu: Laksa and kueh lapis | Recipe Source: thewoksoflife.com and honestcooking.com

Step aside, tom kha. There’s a new lime-cilantro-coconut-lemongrass soup in town, and this one has NOODLES in it.

I legitimately can’t think of a dish more perfectly catered to my personal palate so maybe take this review with a g̶r̶a̶i̶n̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶s̶a̶l̶t̶ dollop of fish sauce, but laksa was genuinely one of the best things I’ve ever eaten. It’s a creamy, spicy, hearty, citrusy, shrimpy wonderland of a dish, and while hot soup is an insane thing to cook on a 95 degree day, you all still need to go make it right now.

Kueh lapis is a subtly sweet cake made by pouring alternating multi-colored layers of thin batter (sugar, coconut milk, tapioca starch, rice flour, pandan leaves) into a mini cake tin that’s nestled inside a steamer. Indirect heat slowly sets the layers (the traditional number is 9) while bathing the cake in humidity, and after it cools to room temp, it can either be eaten with utensils or peeled apart (the latter method feels delightfully Fruit by the Foot-ish). To be completely honest, I picked this recipe out of the wide array of Malaysian dessert options because I couldn’t resist the whimsy. Something about the steaming + titrating vibrant colors + carefully pouring layers on layers on layers made this dessert seem like it was going to be a cooking-crafting-chemistry-lab-experimenting triple threat, and I’m happy to say that’s exactly what it was.

Ready to cook?

Laksa (link): I skipped the chicken because shrimp felt like enough protein; the bean sprouts because I don’t love them; the soy puffs because I couldn’t find them; and the shallots because I got distracted and burned them. I also 5x’d the garlic, as is tradition.

Kueh lapis (link): Aside from needing a little extra water, I followed this recipe exactly!