> > I'm not that great a potato person in general, but I am a
> > gravy person, so my preference is usually for mashed if
> > I have to have one.
> In Sullivan County NY, a favorite habit is to serve french fries with roast
> chicken gravy.. it is SO good..

I do like roast chicken gravy, and poultry flavored
carbs are better than plain. Speaking of which, on
Saturday my friend Serfty served me fries fried in
duck fat with a spiced duck gravy. Mighty good, and 
I ate I believe three or four of them.
 
> Sounds weird to some, but the combined flavors are incredible.  :)
> I think I like that better than Atlantic City NJ's fries with vinegar ..

Fries with vinegar is an English thing I think (they
put vinegar on lots of things, from peas to fish to
potatoes); I'm not sure which is worse, that or the
mayo that people in the Low Countries (there's a
reason for them being called that) use.

Penang Asam Laksa Recipe by Season with Spice
categories: pasta, soup, main, Malaysian
serves: 7 or 8

1 kg pre-cooked laksa noodles
- (or thick round rice noodles)
h - Ground spice paste
15 fresh red chilies and 10 dried red chilies 
-or 3 Tb freshly ground chili paste)
10 shallots
6 cloves garlic
2 cm galangal (lengkuas)
2 cm knob fresh turmeric
2 stalks lemongrass, minced (use the white part only)
1 1/2 Tb belacan (dried shrimp paste)
- or if in block form, use 3/4 of a block
h - Soup
h - For cooking fish
15 c water
3 stalks lemongrass, lightly smashed
- (white part only)
1 torch ginger flower, quartered
7 1/2 cm galangal, halved
1 1/2 kg (about 15 fish) fresh mackerel, horse 
- mackerel, fresh sardine, or yellowtail kingfish 
- cleaned and gutted
1/3 c tamarind juice (mix tamarind pulp in hot water
- 5 min before squeezing it to obtain the juice)
5 pc tamarind peel (asam keping or asam gelugor)
6 stalks Vietnamese mint (daun kesom)
3 Tb sugar or to taste
Salt to taste
h - Garnishing
1 cucumber, thinly sliced into strips
Chinese lettuce, sliced
1/2 md fresh pineapple, sliced into small pieces
2 red onions, thinly sliced
Handful of mint leaves (daun pudina)
1 torch ginger bud (bunga kantan), finely sliced
3 red chilies, thinly sliced
2 green bird's eye chilies, thinly sliced
h - Condiments
Calamansi lime
Sweetened prawn paste (heh ko sauce)
- diluted with laksa soup or water

Blend spice paste ingredients into a fine paste.

Heat a pot of water and add lemongrass, galangal, torch 
ginger flower. Bring to a boil and then add fish. Boil 
on medium heat for 15 min or until the fish is cooked.

Transfer cooked fish to a bowl and let cool. Strain broth 
to remove spices. Add to the broth the Vietnamese mint, 
tamarind juice and tamarind peel and continue to boil on 
low heat.

Break the fish meat into tiny pieces, but keep some in 
bigger chunks. Add the fish flakes back into the pot, 
along with the spice paste.

When it reaches a boil, reduce heat and simmer 40 to 60 min. 
While simmering, add salt and sugar to balance the spiciness 
and sourness for your taste.

Rinse laksa noodles in cold water and strain. Place one 
serving of noodles into a bowl, and pour laksa soup with 
fish flakes over the top.

Top with garnishing, and serve with a spoonful of shrimp 
paste if you like.

Notes:
1. If you prefer your asam laksa soup to be less sour, 
cut down on the tamarind peel or tamarind pulp. If you 
like it to be spicy, add more chili to your spice paste. 
For a more pungent flavour, use more shrimp paste 
(belacan and heh koh).

2. Hawker stalls tend to use low quality local mackerel 
(ikan kembong) in asam laksa. When making the dish at 
home, you can use a better quality fish like horse 
mackerel (ikan selar kuning), fresh sardine, or 
yellowtail kingfish (ikan pelata).

seasonwithspice.com