Our Laksma

The 23rd January was a Saturday and it involved a walk in the crisp winter sun in the local wood and exploring the large network of streams in the wood; mainly due to my dog's love of water and my need to get her clean after she found almost every muddy patch of ground possible on our walk.

The day before that I had found time to visit the winter gardens in my local city of Sheffield for a cup of tea with an old schoolfriend to end an exciting week on a high.

When I got home I stuck on the MP3 player Love's string laden and warped masterpiece Forever Changes which was followed by R.E.M's Green which saw them cross over with an album that is at least half successful in terms of creativity.

Following recent exposures to Oriental Culture through various sources I decided to make a dish known as Laksma. The method and the recipe of it from the version I made are as follows:

1. I created a paste that I put through my blender before frying- it as you will see I did later on in the recipe. The paste had in it the following:

1 diced onion.
2 diced garlic cloves.
1 teaspoon turmeric.
1 teaspoon ginger.
1 teaspoon coriander.
2 diced green chilli peppers.
1 tablespoon olive oil.

A close colleague and friend of mine at work swears by making her pastes from scratch rather than buying ready made ones from the shops. I have to say that I totally agree with her, there is certainly something more authentic and flavoursome about making your own paste from scratch even if it takes longer.

2.After leaving the paste on one side I then grilled a salmon steak I had found I my freezer for a period of twenty-five minutes.

3. While the salmon was cooking under the grill I boiled some noodles in a pan of water on the stove for  fifteen minutes.

4. While the noodles boiled and the salmon was cooking I fried the paste in my wok with some light soy sauce, fish sauce, one and a half cups of chicken stock and one and a half cups of coconut milk as well. I fried it for around five minutes until it was warmed through and kept it warm on a light heat while the noodles and salmon were cooking.

5. Once the Salmon and the noodles were ready I combined them in the wok with the paste and served the dish. This is one of those dishes that feels it does you nothing but good and also tastes delicious too. The Salmon and noodles give it plenty of protein while the texture and taste of the paste help increase your intake of fresh vegetables.

I also served it with some spinach which took the edge off the spices in the paste to give the food a more rounded flavour.

The meal definitely helped motivate me to seek out more types of Oriental Recipes which you'll see on the blog in the coming weeks.

Like a lot of Oriental dishes this is best off being served in a bowl because of the liquid content.