Laotian Larb

Everyone's eaten at Thai restaurants. There are Vietnamese places popping up all over. My old DC neighborhood even had a Malaysian eatery on the corner.

But what the heck is Laotian food?

I wondered the same thing before I visited Laos, the small country bordered by Thailand and Cambodia. And obviously this was the first question I asked once i got there.

Basically, it's a cuisine influenced by Northern Thailand, Cambodia and the French, with a heavy emphasis on fresh herbs, spices and vegetables. And everything, and I mean everything, is served with a basket of sticky white rice.

The most popular dish in Laos has to be Larb (also spelled Larp or Laap). It's a spicy salad of minced meat or fish, greens, herbs and spices and is absolutely delicious. Locals tend to eat the salad by rolling little balls of sticky rice and using it as their utensil. So this is, of course, how you should eat it too.

Below is the recipe I got from the Tamnak Lao Restaurant Cooking School in Luang Prabang. I made it for my parents today and it was a huge hit. Plus, it's easy, healthy and something new!

Chicken Larb
(Note you can make this recipe with fish, tofu or pork)

This recipe serves one person or three if shared with other dishes.

Ingredients:
• 1 large chicken breast with skin removed, minced into small pieces
• 1 small chicken bouillon cube
• 1 medium lime, juiced
• 2 TBSP hot water
• 2 kaffir lime leaves, sliced thinly
• 1 spring onion, sliced thinly
• 2 shallots, sliced thinly (are we seeing a pattern?)
• 2 garlic cloves (you know the drill)
• 1 bunch of cilantro, cut finely
• 2 stalks of lemongrass thinly sliced, white part only
• 6 mint leaves, thinly sliced
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 TBSP rice powder (I found this at the local Asian market)
• 1 tsp chili powder or fresh chilies to taste if you like it hot (1-2 small Thai chilies)
• ¼ tsp fish sauce
• 1 TBSP fried garlic*
• 1 TBSP fried shallots*

Preparation:
1. Put the chicken stock, chicken, half of the lime juice and water into a wok or pan.
2. Place over medium heat, stirring until the chicken is cooked through.
3. Remove from the heat and place in a bowl.
4. Add the kaffir limes, spring onion, shallot, garlic, cilantro, lemongrass and mint. Mix well.
5. Add salt, rice powder, chili powder, fish sauce, fried garlic and fried shallot. Mix thoroughly.
6. Pour the remainder of the lime juice over the salad, give it a quick toss and serve it on a bed of lettuce, cucumbers and tomatoes.

*You can either buy deep fried onion and garlic at an Asian market, or make your own by slicing shallots and garlic very finely and deep-frying them in a pan until they turn golden brown. Use vegetable or canola oil and keep an eye on them! They burn quickly.


How to Make Sticky Rice:
Admittedly, I was too lazy to make the sticky rice, so we rolled the salad in lettuce leaves. And while it was great, I definitely missed being able to dip that small piece of rice in the Larb's sauce. So, you can do one of two things: either call in a to-go order from a local Thai restaurant, or invest in a steamer and make it yourself. These are the instructions I got from my Thai cooking school: Soak sticky rice in fresh cold water for a minimum of four hours. Afterwards wash the sticky rice with water at least two times. Put the sticky rice in a steamer and steam for about 30 minutes until the rice is very soft. When done, always keep the rice in a closed container to prevent it from drying out and becoming hard. If the rice cools down you can always steam it again.

A Poem for my Beloved Durian

Durian, durian, the magical fruit
People say you smell like a toot.
Spiky, pointy, hanging from trees,
The sight of you brings me to my knees.
People crack you open with a knife,
The first taste nearly changed my life.
A custard-like inside is a surprising treat,
Every day I want to eat.
I’ll never understand why your smell and taste offends,
I’ll forever be here to defend.
Durian, durian, I miss you so,
Back to Malaysia I must go.

A Recipe-filled Reunion

The moment I returned to America I started receiving invites to parties and reunion requests. I responded by sending a mass email: “Let me sleep for five days, then the planning can commence.”

Exactly six days later, I had two of my best girlfriends over for dinner. And even though I wanted nothing to do with rice, noodles, or any other kind of Asian fare, I thought it’d be nice to cook some recipes I learned in Thailand.

In Chiang Mai (Northern Thailand), I spent an entire day at Thai Farm Cooking School. It’s located about 17 kilometers from Chiang Mai City, surrounded by mountains and an organic farm.

The day started at a local market where we learned about exotic produce and staple ingredients in Thai cooking.

Then we took a tour of the garden, smelling and tasting fresh herbs.

And the next few hours were spent cooking curries, soups, stir-fried dishes, salads and desserts.



Everyone left the school with full bellies, bags of leftover food and recipe booklets.

I don’t know how, but I managed to hang on to my tiny recipe book during the next two months of travel. And when I fished it out from the bottom of my backpack, I knew I had to recreate those delicious meals for my friends and family.

For my first (of many to come) Asian dinner party, I made Thai vegetable soup and chicken with basil. Both were huge hits, and the dinner was the perfect way to celebrate with old friends.

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Thai Vegetables Soup
(Tom Phak Ruam) {Serves 1-2}

Ingredients
• ½ c sliced tofu (I left this out)
• 1 c coconut milk
• 1 c water
• ¼ c sliced galangal (Similar to ginger root but milder. You should be able to find it at an Asian market. If not, try 1/8 c sliced ginger then add to taste)
• 1 stalk lemongrass, sliced into 3 cm long pieces
• ¼ c sliced tomatoes
• ½ c sliced mushrooms
• 1-5 fresh chilies, minced (Remember a little goes a long way. You can always add more chilies but you can’t take them away!)
• 2-3 kaffir lime leaves
• 1 stem chopped spring onion
• 5 coriander leaves (cilantro)
• ½ c chopped long beans (If you can’t find these at an Asian market, substitute with broccoli or cauliflower. Green beans get too mushy.)
• ½ c chopped pumpkin (I couldn’t find pumpkin so I used butternut squash and it was excellent.)
• ½ c chopped carrot
• 2 tsp lime juice
• 1 tsp fish sauce or soy sauce (I prefer fish sauce.)
• ½ tsp sugar
• pinch of salt

Preparation

Put water and coconut milk in a pot, heat until boiling. Add galangal, lemongrass, onion, pumpkin, long beans and carrot, cook until fragrant. Add tofu, tomatoes and mushrooms, continue boiling on medium heat until cooked. Season with fish or soy sauce, sugar and salt. Finally add lime juice, coriander and kaffir lime leaves, spring onions and chilies. Serve with rice.


Chicken with Basil
(Phad Kaprao Gai) {Serves 1-2}

Ingredients

• 100 grams sliced chicken (1 thin chicken cutlet. Chicken can be replaced by tofu, pork, beef or squid)
• 2 tbsp oil (soybean or canola)
• 5 cloves minced garlic
• 1/3 c sliced long beans
• 2-3 hot chilies
• 1 c Thai basil (holy basil) leaves
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce
• ½ tsp sugar
• ¼ c sliced onions
• 3 tbsp water

Preparation

Pour the oil in the wok (If you don’t have a wok, use a large pan.) on low heat. When the oil is hot, add garlic, onion and chillies. Stir until fragrant. Add chicken and turn the heat up. Stir until well done. Next add long beans, fish sauce, sugar and oyster sauce. Add a little water. Stir together well. When everything is done, add basil leaves and stir once again. Serve with rice

My Last Supper

I knew my last meal in Korea had to be good; but what? Barbecue? One of the many soups I'd savored over my year-and-a-half stay? A rice dish? Seafood? I couldn't decide. But lucky for me, I didn't have to.

As a going away present, my friend Yong Kyu made reservations at a Korean royal cuisine restaurant so I could check off one of the last items from my Korean food bucket list: sinseollo. Sinseollo is a special type of hot pot once reserved only for royalty. It's basically a mild broth with beef, egg, radish, mushrooms, walnuts, ginkgo nuts and a few other vegetables served in a fancy silver pot.

I hadn't had time to research royal cuisine, with my grueling 3-month trip around Southeast Asia and all, so I had no idea what to expect. I figured the hot pot would be placed in the center of the table and that would be it.

Boy was I wrong.

Our server greeted us with salad, cold buckwheat noodles with vegetables, spring rolls and sweet potato salad. Then came beautifully presented sashimi. Then juk (rice porridge). Then boiled pork with spicy radish, nokdumuk (mung bean jelly noodles) and a delicious ground beef dish. Then the waitress brought out a nine-sectioned platter consisting of colorful vegetables and meats. She used chopsticks to put a little of each into thin wheat pancakes, rolled them up and placed them on our plates.

I looked at Yong Kyu. "This has to be it, right?"

"Of course not," he replied. "We haven't had the sinseollo yet."

As if cued, our waitress placed a huge bronze pot of soup accompanied with jeonyueo (meat and vegetables dipped in flour and egg then pan-fried) on our table. Yong Kyu spooned heaps of sinseollo into my bowl.

"Yong Kyu, this is so delicious, but I can't eat another bite," I said, holding my stomach.

"This meal is finished, I think," he said. "Now just dessert."

But it wasn't. There was still doenjang jjigae (fermented soy bean soup) and banchan (side dishes) to be had. I sat in slight agony as I watched Yong Kyu sip his soup and dip his chopsticks into the small bowls of kimchi, beans and vegetables. "Please, have some," he said.

"I'm just saving room for dessert," I replied, hoping that was the last course.

I was relieved when our server came to clear our plates. And I was even more relieved when dessert turned out to be two pieces of tteok (rice cake) and pineapple.

It was a lot of food. But good food. Actually, it was some of the best food I'd had during my stay in Korea.

"Yong Kyu, thank you so much for taking me here," I said. "This was the perfect present. A meal to end all meals."

He blushed and rushed ahead to open the door. I waddled out of the royal cuisine restaurant feeling like a princess. A fat princess, but a princess non-the-less.