In an instant…

I first came to know of its existence when an ex-student of mine shared a photograph of it on Facebook and then I heard that it was available in Kuching. I waited and waited for it to hit to shops here but months passed and there was none to be seen. Then, I got a few packs…

*Archive photo*

…the other day from my brother-in-law in Bintulu and I think it is also available in Miri, none here still for reasons unknown.

Well, I opened a pack…

…the other morning to try and was surprised that they were not in individual packets inside, rather unlike all those packs of instant noodles on the shelves at the shops and supermarkets. Thank goodness for airtight plastic containers, I was able to just take a piece of the bihun and a set of the sachets and keep the rest for another day.

First, I boiled some water, put the bihun in it till cooked/soft, drained it well and placed it in a bowl…

In the meantime, I had also fried an omelette and sliced it very thinly and chopped some of the spring onions from my garden.

After that, I boiled some more water for the soup and emptied the contents of the three sachets into it – there was one with the laksa sambal, another with the seasoning and the third one with the santan (coconut milk) in powder form. Once it was done, I poured it over the bihun in the bowl…

…and topped it with the aforementioned omelette and spring onions…

…and served.

So, was it good? I would say it was but I thought it was a tad too salty but maybe that was because I did not add a lot of water as I did not want it to be too soupy. Perhaps the next time, I would just use half the packet of the seasoning and throw away the rest which I think would be a good thing considering that there is a lot of msg in that.

I did not want to add anything else…

…as I wanted to get its original taste. My brother-in-law said I could add a couple of prawns and it would be very nice. Of course that goes without saying – one just can’t go wrong with those crustaceans and if one boils some chicken meat, breast and shreds it for the topping, he or she would be able to use the stock for the soup instead of just plain water and that would help enhance the taste as well, that’s for sure.

I asked my cousin in Kuching how much she paid for a pack and she said around RM8.00. What??? Now, that’s not very cheap, is it? I think I would much sooner grab a pack of their Sarawak White Laksa, instant noodles – that was RM6.90 for a pack of 5 when it first came out and I could always use my own bihun (the A1 brand that comes in convenient pieces, just right for individual servings) and save the noodles to cook in some other ways at a later date…or one can just buy the regular – I think it is only RM3 something for a pack of 5, switch the noodles with bihun and add one’s own santan.