Somebody commented that she could not see the label of the very nice tom yam paste that my friends from Trengganu gave me so here is a close-up shot of it…
I don’t think we have this here but then again, I have never really looked and most of the time, I would just grab a small bottle of the Nona brand but this one is definitely nicer.
After enjoying the bihun that I fried with it so much, I could not wait to cook something with it some more. I did have a pack of the noodles in the pantry but I decided to try it out with some leftover rice that I had in the fridge instead. There were the chicken and the taugeh (bean sprouts) that I had left from the Sarawak laksa that I cooked that day so I decided to use those too and these other ingredients…
…as well – the usual shallot and garlic, peeled and sliced, a chili, seeds removed and sliced, some fish balls, sliced thinly, one stalk serai (lemon grass), end bruised, Thai basil leaves and a bit of spring onions, chopped for garnishing.
As usual, I fried the garlic and shallot in a bit of oil till golden brown before adding the Thai basil leaves and serai and also the chili, chicken and fish balls. After mixing everything thoroughly, I added a tablespoon of the tom yam paste…and soon after, the rice. When everything had been fried enough, I added two eggs and the taugeh…and once done, I dished it out and served…
…garnished with the spring onions.
No, I would not say it was very nice – at best, I would say it was all right. Firstly, I would think that tom yam is more compatible with bihun, not so much with rice, though I do know that it goes pretty well with spaghetti the way they do it…
*Archive photo*
…here. They even had tom yam kampua noodles…
*Archive photo*
…at one place in town and likewise, though it was quite nice, I would not say that it swept me off my feet. Other than that, without the usual prawns or sotong (squids) in my fried rice, it did seem that something was missing and it was not all that great.
Ah well…at least, I managed to finish off all that was left from the Sarawak laksa and was still sitting in the fridge, and lesson learnt – next time, it has to be bihun…AND seafood!
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 