ລາວ
Text and Photos by: Mick Shippen
Ponpailin “Noi” Kaewduangdee, the culinary tour de force behind Doi Ka Noi restaurant in Vientiane recently released her first recipe book: A Child of the Rice Fields. The weighty 480-page tome includes sections on food culture, rice, ingredients, cooking methods, and more than 120 recipes, all supported by 400 beautiful images. It stands as the most comprehensive book ever written about Lao food. Shortlisted in two categories for the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards, it is an important step toward helping the Lao cuisine gain international recognition.
The following is an abridged extract from the section, Taste (and other senses).
The key tastes in Lao cuisine are spicy, salty, savory, sour, and bitter. There’s also an element of earthiness and woodsy flavors in some dishes. Sweetness barely gets a look-in. Often the cook’s job is to harmonize these flavors. But not always. Sometimes one or two are allowed to dominate.
Spicy
Take a walk through a local market and it quickly becomes apparent that Lao people love chilis. Everywhere, large woven bamboo trays are piled with green, orange, and red fresh chilis, and a variety of dried – whole, smoked, flaked, and powdered. You could mistakenly believe that all Lao food will be spicy. Granted, there is no shortage of fiery dishes. For the most part, however, they are split with a thwack of a pestle and added towards the end of the cooking process to bring a gentle heat to the dish. The contribution that dried chilis make to Lao food is slightly more complex — they bring heat, but also smokiness and often a touch of sweetness.
Salty
Saltiness is achieved in several forms in Lao cooking, most notably with pa daek, a condiment made from freshwater fish that are fermented and aged (sometimes for several years). The murky-looking, unfiltered liquid and pieces of decomposed fish are an essential seasoning in many dishes. However, pa daek brings much more than saltiness to food. Despite its pungent aroma and strong taste, when added to pounded salads, soups, and curries, its assertiveness mellows to create layers of flavor: salty, savory, earthy, and more. For many Lao cooks, pa daek is the foundational flavor of their food – a seasoning without equal.
Savory
Savory flavor (aka umami) in Lao food comes from fermented soybeans, a range of soy-based seasonings, mushrooms, and grilled tomatoes. The meat sauce for khao soi noodles, a mix of fermented soybean paste, tomatoes, and pork, is an excellent example of how to build rich savory flavors. It is also known that smoky flavors in combination with some ingredients help trigger natural savoriness, a fact that re-emphasizes the importance of using a charcoal grill when cooking Lao food. Savory is of course easily boosted by using MSG but always at the expense of more delicate and complex flavors.
Sour
Sourness is an important flavor in Lao cooking, and its use ranges from subtle to eye-opening acidity. Common sources of sourness are fresh limes which are used in tam, pounded salads, and laab, chopped salads. Lime juice is also used in dipping sauces. Tamarind contributes a gentle sourness which elevates the flavor in soups. Under-ripe tomatoes and pineapple can also be used in this way. Mak kok or hog plum is also a fabulous ingredient for adding sourness to jaew and tam dishes.
Bitter
Most of the Western world seems to have lost its appetite for bitterness. This is not so in Laos. Bitter foods are not only loved, particularly by the older generation, they are considered medicinal. Many foraged plants such as lin mai, the seed pods from the wonderfully named midnight horror tree, and some bamboos, leaves, and flowers are extremely bitter. From the garden, pea aubergine and bitter gourds are used.
Earthy/Woodsy
Certain dishes, particularly those that feature seasonal foraged fungi, cassia leaves or the stock made using yaa nang leaves, have a distinctive earthy or woodsy taste. It’s one suggestive of the fields and forested landscape of Laos during the rainy season, the time when foraged mushrooms are most abundant, of course.
Sweet
Sweetness is almost totally absent in traditional Lao food. Sugar should only ever be used in very scant amounts, usually to take the edge off sourness. The natural sweetness of grilled garlic and shallots, however, is enjoyed. You will often hear diners comment on the sweetness of blanched green vegetables, which are commonly served as a side dish without any additional seasoning.
Astringent
Astringency, that sensation of a slight drying out in the mouth, is also liked. It is particularly pronounced in sliced, raw green banana and banana flower, the skin of hog plum, and a variety of foraged leaves often eaten as an accompaniment to dishes such as laab.
Aroma, Texture, and Temperature
Cooking Lao food is a sensory experience – one that extends beyond mere taste and visual appeal. It is very important to pay attention to your olfactory senses. When the ingredients you are cooking release their aroma, they are also at their most flavorful.
Temperature is also an important consideration when serving Lao food. Hot and room temperature dishes are served at the same meal to provide contrast. Likewise, contrasting textures are enjoyed. Khao khoua, ground roasted rice with lemongrass, galangal, and kaffir lime leaf, is used as a textural element as well as a seasoning, as are crispy fried shallots.
To read more:
A Child of the Rice Fields: Recipes from Noi’s Lao Kitchen is available at Doi Ka Noi restaurant in Vientiane
ແຈ່ວຫມາກເລັ່ນ Jaew Mak Len
A spicy grilled tomato and chili dip
Serves 4 sharing as part of a multi-dish Lao meal
This classic, vibrant tomato and chili jaew is extremely popular in Laos. It’s great with fried Luang Prabang river weed, sun-dried fish, and fried meats.
Equipment
Charcoal stove
Large ceramic pestle and mortar
Ingredients
400g ripe tomatoes
15g fresh mak phet hai chilis
100g garlic – two heads, left whole
130g red Asian shallots, skins on
¼ teaspoon salt
¾ teaspoon pa daek
1½ tablespoons fish sauce
To garnish
A few fresh coriander leaves
1 spring onion, lightly grilled until wilted and fragrant (optional)
First, light the charcoal stove and allow it to die down to a gentle heat. Thread the tomatoes onto skewers by inserting through the middle and ensuring the eyes of the tomatoes are all facing in the same direction. Lay them on a wire rack, eyes down, and place the rack on the stove about 15cm above the coals. Thread the chilis onto a skewer and add them to the rack along with the whole heads of garlic and shallots. Turn the ingredients occasionally, removing each one as it becomes charred, cooked through, and soft to the touch (about 15 minutes for the shallots and garlic, less for tomatoes, and just a minute or two for the chilis).
When cool enough to handle, peel the garlic and shallots. If any of the garlic has become very black, rub or cut it off. Likewise, any bits of very black tomato skins can be discarded.
Put garlic, shallots, chilis, and salt into the mortar and lightly pound with a pestle for a minute until you have a chunky paste, and the chilis are broken up. If any mixture builds up on the pestle, scrape it off with a spoon. Add the tomatoes and muddle them gently with the pestle. It is not advisable to pound them as you will get sprayed with seeds and juice. This way you will also be able to create a chunky-textured jaew. Season with all the pa daek and one tablespoon of the fish sauce. Mix well and taste, adding a quarter tablespoon or so of fish sauce if necessary. Finally, add a few roughly chopped coriander leaves and a small amount of grilled and sliced spring onion (if liked), mix lightly, and serve.