This Week’s Film: Air America
Cuisine: Laotian

In my search for Lao recipes, I turned first to my cookbook library, but to no avail. Not a single dish. So I turned to the Internet, where I was somewhat more successful in my quest, although not abundantly so. Of all the websites I visited, I found only one that impressed me enough to recommend it. It’s a site called AsianSpicyRecipes.com, which has a page with links to 60 Lao recipes. Among them, I found a recipe for Seum Sin Kuai, braised water buffalo stew with chilies. The appeal of this recipe lies mainly in the fact that the ingredients are all things that are readily available at my local market. Of course, since there’s no water buffalo in my freezer at the moment, I will be using beef instead.

In my recipe search, I learned a lot about Lao food. The flavors are based upon the same sweet, sour, bitter, salty components found in other Southeast Asian cuisines. However, Lao food is unique in its interpretation. Texture is also an important element in Lao food. Many Lao dishes incorporate large amounts of fresh leafy herbs and vegetables, some of which are unfamiliar to western markets, gardens, and kitchens. Among them are wild betel leaves, yanang leaves, kaffir lime leaves, scarlet wisteria, banana blosoms, ginger blossoms, water spinach, acacia, tamarind leaves, neem leaves (a tree in the mahogany family), and two bitter herbs: Piper ribesioides, and a bitter green called phak lin may, for which there appears to be no English translation.

Among the more common and familiar Lao herbs and spices are ginger, galangal, chili peppers, garlic, shallot, lemongrass, basil, mint, and coriander. Fresh vegetables and fruits include Lao eggplant, green papaya, bamboo shoots, cloud ear mushrooms, long beans, tomato, cucumber, tamarind and lime. Other ingredients common to Lao food, but exotic to western markets are padaek fish paste, dried water buffalo skin, and a nori-like seaweed paper called kaipen. Indigenous fruits include mango, papaya, guava, pineapple, banana, coconut, orange, apple, grape, melon, tamarind, and the more exotic durian, mangosteen, jackfruit, soursop and langsat.

Grilling, boiling, stewing, and steaming are the most common cooking methods. Cooking utensils to prepare a Lao meal are simple: a mortar and pestle, a charcoal brazier, a wok, a soup kettle, and a bamboo steaming basket. Favorite Lao dishes include laap (larb), a spicy mixed salad of meat, herbs and greens; tam mak hoong, a spicy green papaya salad; and Lao pho, a savory noodle soup. Sticky rice is served at nearly every meal, as is the ubiquitous Lao chili paste. Favorite desserts include steamed rice in banana leaf, coconut custard cake, and sweet steamed pumpkin. Beverages include Lao coffee with condensed milk, green tea, beer, and a fermented rice beverage called lao lao.

Meals are served on low rattan tables called ka toke. Spoons are used to eat soups, and chopsticks are used to eat noodles, but most Lao dishes are eaten with the hands or scooped with leafy greens, and are therefore served at room temperature. A typical meal includes a soup, a grilled dish, a stew, a variety of fresh raw greens, an array of spicy dips and condiments, and sticky rice, all of which are served at the same time.

My Lao recipe will be posted at the end of the week, along with my Air America film review.

Posted by Celeste Heiter Food