Laos Food is Good

  Luang Prabang, Lao Peoples Dem Rep
April 08, 2009

Bill tried the french toast for breakfast and I had eggs and a baguette. I gave Bill the bacon that came with my meal.

We walked to Tamarind Restaurant to begin our cooking class. Joy (a guy) is going to be our tour guide at the market and our chef. We hopped into a tuk tuk along with Sara and Meagan from Wales, Jeff from Glasgow, Hanz from Holland, Dada from Serbia, Nico and his girlfriend from France and Sandra who is from New Jersey, but now lives in Beijing. Our group this time is more mature, should be a good time.

We stopped at Phousy market to learn more about Laos food. We saw spices, fruit (only for old people without teeth and tourists) and veggies, sticky rice, black or purple rice, pink rice for ceremonies, buffalo rind, pig rind, hopps, palm sugar, Mekong seaweed, cat poop (nickname for a sweet treat that does not look appetizing, but tastes good; Laos snacks for watching TV), chicken eggs with a number on them from 1 - 5 (#1 the chick was the youngest, #5 means the chick is oldest), congealed blood for soup, chicken feet (they eat it all), buffalo skin, buffalo fetus, pig brain for children (good for the stomach, show your children that you love them), free range chicken (long legs to play soccer), deep fried garlic, Chinese garlic (bigger, easier to use, Laos garlic is too much work), fermented fish, bile (to tenderize meat), coriander with bamboo around the root to keep it fresh longer, snake bean, yard bean, dill to go with fish, bamboo shoots for soup, Thai basil (stronger) for stir fry, spicy wood aka pepper Wood (like horseradish),...

We had a few minutes to explore on our own. Bill took a picture of a lady getting a French pedicure by the free range chicken carcasses. I took a picture of a Mom and her baby boy (he was a ham!).

We rode out of town in the tuk tuk to a lovely wooded spot near the river. Under one roof was our prep area, another area for cooking over charcoal, and a third area to eat at.

We first made Jeow with tomato or eggplant with garlic, chili, spring onion, coriander and lime. We grilled the eggplant, tomatoes, garlic and chili in the charcoals. Then everything went into the pestle and mortar. We were able to taste our creations with some sticky rice. The rice is soaked and then scrubbed before it is put into a bamboo funnel and a pot with 1/3 water for 20 minutes. It is then shaken a bit at the end to shift the rice at the top to the middle or bottom to finish cooking. Everyone made great Jeow, we sampled most of them and no 2 were alike. Some were saltier, spicier, smokier or fresher tasting.

Next we made Mok Pa - fish in banana leaves with shallots, garlic, chili, kaffir lime leaves, salt, dill, basil, spring onion, water and fish sauce that was all mixed with mortar and pestle. You place the mixture on banana leaves and them fold the leaves lengthwise. You have to hold it at the top in the middle with your left hand and push from one end at the fold toward the middle, then push the 2 edges in and hold with one hand. Repeat for the other side and then bind with bamboo or pins along the side and across the top (like ribbon on a gift!). Then you place over the coals in the bamboo and steam it for 35 minutes.

We all worked together to make one batch of Luang Prabang stew. We added spicy wood, lemon grass, eggplant, chicken breast, elephant ear mushroom, chili, long beans, burnt sticky rice, basil, coriander, dill, spring onions and fish sauce.

We then made stuffed lemon grass and grilled one and deep fried one. The "stuffing" was garlic, spring onion, coriander, kaffir lime leaves and ground chicken. It was all mixed in the mortar. We made fine strips in the lemon grass and stuffed it with our meat mixture. One was placed on the grilled, the other was dipped in egg and then placed in the deep fryer.

When those things were ready we sat down and enjoyed the food with sticky rice. It was all SOOO good! The guys had some BeerLao with their feast. It was great food and an incredible setting. Sandra had to eat and run, she had a flight to catch.

After our meal we made some purple sticky rice with coconut sauce. We made the coconut milk from shredded coconut and water - very neat. We heated the milk and rice over the charcoals until it was thickened and then ate it with mango, banana and taramind paste (tastes a bit like date or prune). The girl from France and I had some Lao Lao with our dessert. I had the banana flavour and she had lemon. The lemon was the way to go, especially since we had to chug them back right away.

We took the tuk tuk back into town and Nico and I got wet. The water festival (Laos and Thai New Year) festivities have started early in Luang Prabang.

At the restaurant I bought a salad recipe book to go along with the recipes from today.

We walked to an internet cafe. BMO has emailed, they are looking into the with-drawls for us...

Bill tried to get money again, but the cash advance window closed prior to the 2 pm posted time.

We went to the Dala Market, a mini-mart is nearby where I can get peanut butter. The market is covered and had clothing, souvenirs and jewelery. We kept walking down the street looking for something that is like "kitchen", but did not find it. Bill did help to push start a minivan though. We walked back to the Dala Market and found the mini-mart - Chitchan. They did have peanut butter for $6 and I could have bought a bag of raisins for $3. We bought some water and could have bought all types of cheese (Brie) and CC whiskey that was close to the same price as at home.

We walked back toward our hotel. Bill bought some banana bread and we went on the internet for an hour. After a rest in the room we went to the night market for BBQ pork. I also had some fried rice and coconut balls that were very good.

We walked up the street on the other side of the hill and were joined by some teen-aged monks for a bit. They tell us that it is the full moon. We stopped at some book stores, a Laos shop and checked out some restaurants and bars. One spot is showing the Sex and the City movie tonight. This seems to be the area where the backpackers hang out.

We went back to the market to have a veggie plate for 5000 kip and to spring rolls for 1000 kip each. All the food we had tonight was less than 20000 kip (just over $3).