Delicious dish: Rajinder (left) is Singh Laksa’s ‘chief laksa chef’, while Manjit handles the rest of the food.
SEREMBAN: A Cantonese-speaking Sikh is the man behind a well-known laksa dish here, enough to rival Penang’s famed asam laksa.
He runs a stall named Singh Laksa, which offers the dish comprising curry powder, turmeric, coriander, curry leaves and lemongrass. Each bowl is served with homemade vegetarian sambal.
Confused? Well, that’s the potpourri of Malaysian food.
“We are inspired by Malaysia’s rich culinary heritage,” said Rajinder Singh, 70, whose mother is Chinese.
He has been running the business for over 20 years with his wife, Manjit Kaur.
A bowl of laksa offered at his stall features noodles in a spice-rich gravy that combines Chinese, Indian and Malay influences.
It resembles a version of the curry laksa or curry mee popular in Malaysia’s central region.
But unlike most curry mee, Singh Laksa’s gravy is made without coconut milk. The stock is also vegetarian.
“We experimented with different spice blends and ingredients, taking into account customer preference,” said Manjit, 63.
“We finally settled on a recipe that features a vegetarian gravy made with evaporated milk instead of coconut milk.”
A standard bowl at the pork-free stall includes a selection of noodles (kway teow, beehoon or yellow noodles), topped with the vegetarian gravy and tofu puffs. Non-vegetarians can opt for hard-boiled eggs, fishballs and fishcake slices.
The story of Singh Laksa began when Rajinder was working in the sales department of a multinational company.
With their four children all grown up, Manjit – a homemaker and passionate cook whose culinary repertoire includes Punjabi, Chinese, Malay, South Indian and Western food – soon got bored at home.
Then, she learned of an elderly Chinese couple who ran a laksa stall and wanted to call it a day.
Manjit took the opportunity to learn the basics of laksa-making from them.
While perfecting her own recipe over the course of a year, Manjit slowly built up a customer base by selling nasi lemak, chicken rendang and mutton curry – items which are still on the menu at Singh Laksa today.
Rajinder, who got into the business after his retirement, is now the “chief laksa chef”, while Manjit handles the rest of the dishes.The couple begins their day at 5am to prepare ingredients for the laksa and other food, including thosai, roti canai and other noodle dishes.
Their stall along Jalan Temiang is a favourite among students as it is near SMJK Chan Wa. In fact, many former students frequent the stall for their gatherings.
“Most of our customers grew up eating our laksa. We have repeat customers coming from China, Singapore and even the United States,” Manjit said.
Despite her children urging her to retire, the grandmother of two said she wants to keep feeding people.
She credits her love for cooking and feeding people to her late father, who used to cook for devotees at Gurdwara Sahib Petaling Jaya decades ago.
“I cannot imagine shutting it down. Over the years, I have even learnt the preferences of our customers,” she added.
