Ingredients
1 pa keng, scaled, gutted and washed - keep the intestine, if it is clean, and eggs, if any,
wrap them together in pieces of banana leaf and grill them on the fire until cooked-take half
only of the flesh of the fish, wash it and chop it finely - put the fish skin in the soup until it is
just enough cooked, then take it out and chop it into small pieces
5 sweet young round eggplants - place them on a charcoal fire until their skins are burned, but
do not let the seeds inside burn - then place them in a bowl
3 dried chilli peppers-grill them until soft
3 (small) heads of garlic-sear them on a charcoal fire
3 (small) shallots-sear them on a charcoal fire2 slices of galingale
Put the above five ingredients in a mortar and pound them all together finely
5 (more small) heads of garlic, chopped and fried until golden, then removed from the pan
spring onions, chopped
coriander, chopped1 rice-bowl (1/2 pint) of or padek (cooked)
1 medium-sized bowl of nam keng (the liquid part only of the fish soup) salt
Method
Put the chopped fish in the mortar with the five pounded ingredients and pound until thoroughly
mixed. Add some or padek and salt. Then add some nam keng and continue stirring. Whether it is
thick or not is according to your preference. Next, add the chopped fish skin, the chopped spring
onions, and the fish intestine and eggs. Taste and check the saltiness. '
Dish up on to a platter and garnish with the fried garlic and chopped coriander. Serve with Keng
Som Houa Pa Keng (Sour soup made with the head of a pa keng) and some vegetables.
Ingredients
1 wild chicken, plucked, washed and gutted; take the meat from the breasts and legs and
chop it finely;
take the skin, the liver and the gizzard, wash them, tie them together with thread and cook
them by boiling them in broth, then slice them thinly
5 round eggplants, cooked by putting them in the charcoal fire until their skins are burned
3 (small) heads garlic, seared over a charcoal fire
2 (small) shallots, seared over a charcoal fire
3 dried chilli peppers, grilled until brittle
2 slices of galingale
The above five ingredients to be pounded together - we call the result kheuang lap, meaning
ingredients
for the lap
1 rice-bowl (1/4 pint) of or padek
1 medium-sized bowl of broth to which fish sauce has not been added an appropriate quantity of
groundkhao khoua (uncooked sticky rice, toasted in a hot dry pan, then pounded very thoroughly)
a young banana flower, sliced
3 (small) heads of garlic, chopped and fried until golden-brown and giving off a good aroma
3 Kaffir lime leaves, chopped spring onion leaves, chopped coriander leaves, salt
Method
Mix the minced chicken with the kheuang lap. Add salt and the or padek, and mix some more.
When the mixture has a sufficiently strong taste of padek, add the broth and stir. Then add the
khao khoua and the sliced banana flower. Add also the sliced chicken skin (etcetera) and the fried
garlic. Taste and check the saltiness.
Arrange the ingredients on a platter. Garnish with chopped spring onion leaves, chopped coriander
leaves and the Kaffir lime leaves, also chopped. Serve with Keng Som (any kind of sour soup) and a
variety of fresh (raw) vegetables.
Ingredients
5 bamboo shoots, which may be no mai lai (GIANTOCHLOA NIGROCILIATA) or no
mai bong(BAMBUSA TULDA) - choose small ones, boil them until they lose their (bitter) taste, then
cut off all the hard outer layer and cut the trimmed shoots into sections 8 cm long - after this use a
needle to make slits in them lengthwise, but leaving the ends of each section intact
7 (small) shallots, pounded
1 piece of pork, including some fat, the size of the palm of a hand, minced
2 eggs
salt and fish sauce
flour (about 2 tbsp)
ground black pepper
chopped spring onion leaves
pork fat
Method
Mix together in a large bowl the minced pork, the pounded shallots, ground black pepper and I
tablespoonful of the flour. Mix all this thoroughly. Add salt, fish sauce and some of the chopped
spring onions. Mix again, taste to check the saltiness, and add more of the chopped spring onion.
Stuff the mixture into the slit-open bamboo shoots and wrap these in pieces of banana leaf as you
would in making a kanab. Use a bamboo holder to grill the packages until they are cooked, then open
up the banana leaf coverings and leave the contents to cool.
Heat some pork fat in a wok. Beat the eggs in a bowl with salt and some flour mixed in. Dip the
cooked bamboo shoots in the egg mixture and fry them in the hot fat until they are nice and golden.
Place them on a platter to serve.
| SOUP MADE WITH BAMBOO SHOOTS AND YANANG LEAVES |
Ingredients
a bamboo shoot, boiled until it loses its (bitter) taste - if it is a large shoot, cut it into
smaller parts of the right size for soup and wash 40 yanang leaves, washed and then put into 2 metal
jugfuls (2 pints) of water and rubbed until they are all broken up - the liquid is then strained through
a fine white cloth (or through a strainer) and left in a pot
2 soupspoonfuls of sticky-rice flour
5 (small) shallots, pounded
2 pieces of the dried skin of a pa leum (a large catfish), grilled until 'puffy' and then cut into smaller
pieces
20 small eggplants
chopped spring onion leaves
sweet basil leaves
salt and fish sauce
1 stalk of lemon grass, placed in glowing charcoal embers and ashes and then washed
Method
Put the juices obtained from the yanang leaves in a pot to boil. Add the pieces of bamboo shoot, the
dried fish skin, the sticky-rice flour, the pounded shallots, the lemon grass and salt. Put the lid on the
pot and leave it to come back to the boil. Then add the fish sauce and eggplants, cover again and
leave to boil again. When it is done, taste and check the saltiness.
Garnish with the chopped spring onion leaves and the sweet basil leaves and put in a (large) bowl to
serve.
Note
One should not put fresh meat in Keng No Mai (Bamboo soup), because it will then have an animal
odour.
If dried fish skin is not available, dried water-buffalo skin or dried water buffalo meat can be
substituted.
As for the sticky-rice flour, one may use kneaded cooked sticky rice instead.
Ingredients
10 dried red chilli peppers, to be grilled slowly until brittle (but do not let them burn and
turn black)
and then pounded finely5 (small) shallots
5 (small) heads of garlic fire, then washed and pounded finely
These above two ingredients are to be seared in a charcoal
2 slices of galingale, finely pounded
salt and fish sauce
chopped coriander leaves
1/2 a strip of dried water-buffalo skin, grilled until done, then scraped smooth, cut into thin small
slices and soaked in salt water
Method
Pound together, until they are thoroughly mixed, all the previously pounded ingredients. Sprinkle
salt on them and add a little water. Mix, and add the pieces of water-buffalo skin. Taste and
check the saltiness. If the mixture is too thick, add some boiled water, still warm.
Put the mixture on a platter and garnish it with chopped coriander leaves. Serve it with Jee Sin
Lod(grilled dried beef-take a long, thin piece of dried beef, say, a foot long and as thick as a finger;
cook it by putting it directly into a charcoal fire; then remove it, rub off the blackened parts, beat it to
make it tender and cut it up as you wish).
* Editors' Note. Bong means pickled. This sauce is not, literally, a pickle; but it keeps for a very long
time, as pickles do, and that seems to be why it has this name.
Ingredients
1 dried quail, matured until almost mouldy, divided into separate breast and leg parts,
washed and put on a plate
7 round eggplants
5 large fresh green chilli peppers
1 stalk lemon grass
3 straight-bulbed spring onions
sa-kahn (an aromatic plant), cut into pieces about 5 cm long and 1 cm thick-about 10 pieces - washed
3 young shoots rattan, cooked by being placed directly on a charcoal fire and peeled so as to leave
only the soft part, which is to be cut into pieces 2 cm long and washed
1 bunch phak tam nin (all edible leaf), picked over, keeping only the leaves and tops, which are to be
washed
dill, washed and cut into pieces about 2 cm long
spring onion, the green parts, cut into pieces about 2 cm long and washed sweet basil leaves, washed
1 piece of crisp-fried pork skin, cut into squares of 1 cm and put on a plate padek
salt
2 yard-long beans, cut into pieces about 2 cm long
Method
Put 2 metal jugfuls (2 pints) of water in a pot and place it on the fire. Add the prepared bird, the
eggplants, the chilli peppers, the spring onions, the lemon grass, the sa-kahn and salt. Cover and let
it boil. Add the padek in a padek basket suspended in the soup. When the eggplants and the chilli
peppers are done, spoon them out and pound them. Put this mixture back in the pot. When it returns
to the boil add the phak tam nin and the yard-long beans. When all is done, add the pieces of pork
skin and the chopped coriander leaves, taste and check the saltiness.
Serve in a bowl, garnished with the chopped spring onion leaves. Accompany the dish with
young cucumbers and older eggplants and other fresh vegetables (e.g. salad leaves, watercress, etc.).
Note
In cooking this Or Lam, you can also add Duk Moo Sam La (pork bones which have been kept for
some time in the broth) if you fear that it will not be 'nua' (flavoursome enough).You may also add
other kinds of vegetables (when you are cooking the stew), but be careful not to use too many because
the Or Lam Nok Kho will then turn into Or Moo (Pork stew) or Or phak (Vegetable stew).
| A HOT DISH OF SMALL CATFISH |
Ingredients
6 pa gnon - scrape off the mucus from the skin, gut the fish, cut off and discard the heads
and tails,
wash the fish and salt them
1 fully grown coconut, split open-grate the meat and squeeze two extractions of coconut milk
from it, keeping the first extraction separate from the second one-quantity, one soupbowl of each
2 dried chilli peppers soaked in water
7 (small) shallots, peeled
Pound the above two ingredients together in a mortar to make your kheuang ham
salt and fish sauce
Kaffir lime leaves
spring onion leaves, chopped coriander leaves, chopped ground black pepper
Method
Put the first extraction of coconut milk in a wok on the fire until it becomes creamy. Then add the
kheuang ham and fry it until it gives off a good aroma. Add the fish gently, stir thoroughly, then
add fish sauce and the second extraction of coconut milk. When the fish are cooked, taste and
check the saltiness. Add the Kaffir lime leaves. Transfer to a serving-dish, garnish with the chopped
spring onion leaves and coriander and ground black pepper, and serve.
| FISH SOUP MADE WITH SNAKEHEAD FISH AND CHOPPED LEMON GRASS, ETC. |
Ingredients
1 snakehead (the fish known as pa kho) - scale it, gut it, slice it into pieces about 2 cm
long, wash these and put them on a plate
1 stalk lemon grass, chopped crossways
2 (small) heads of garlic, (the cloves peeled and) chopped
5 spring onions, bulbs only, chopped
coriander leaves, chopped
rice - 1 large 'pinch' (about 1 tbsp)
ground black pepper, fish sauce and salt
Method
Put some water and salt in a pot on the fire. When the water has come to the boil, add the fish and rice.
When the fish is cooked, add the fish sauce and chopped lemon grass, garlic and spring onion. When
these are cooked, taste and check the saltiness, then transfer everything to a serving-bowl, garnish
with the coriander leaves and the ground black pepper, and serve.
Note
If you like the dish sour, squeeze some lime juice on it.
Ingredients
400 grams beef sirloin, sliced into pieces measuring 2 cm by 3 cm and 3 mm thick, salted
and marinated for two hours in the juice of 6 limes
3 stalks lemon grass
2 (small) heads garlic
7 (small) shallots
3 dried chilli peppers
galingale (3 to 5 slices)The above five ingredients should be sliced into small pieces and mixed
together - the result is called kheuang hom - "fragrant spices/herbs;" [hom means 'to smell nice';
kheuang means 'ingredients'.]
liver
spleen
heart
tripeThe above four ingredients are to be boiled in the meat broth, sliced into small pieces and set
aside on a plate
1 small bowl (1/4 pint) or padek*
salt
spring onion leaves
fresh corianderKaffir lime leaves
The above ingredients should be finely sliced or chopped
Method
Put the kheuang hom into a bowl and add salt.
Squeeze out the liquid from the marinated beef, and set the liquid to cook on a low heat.
Mix the pieces of beef with the kheuang hom. Add the or padek little by little, mixing the
ingredients continuously as you do so. Mix in also half the sliced offal, the reduced liquid from the
beef, the spring onions and the Kaffir lime leaves. Mix well. Taste and check the saltiness. Place the
mixture on a servingplate and garnish it with the remaining sliced offal and the coriander. Serve
with Keng am Duk Ngua.
* Editor's Note. Or padek is produced by cooking padek until it is almost dry; then adding
water and bringing back to the boil; and then straining out any remaining fish bones. The result is
a sauce which is used for adding flavour, as in this recipe.
| A STEW MADE WITH SWEET BON |
(Bon is the name of a plant, but it may be applied either to bon waan - a general name
referring to anybon which is sweet and edible-or to bon kan, an itchy or scratchy bon, which
should not be eaten since it will cause puffing and itching of the skin. Sweet bon in its
cultivated form is taro.)
Ingredients
a piece of three-layer pork, cut into strips about 3 cm thick and 1 cm wide
a handful of bon waan (i.e. presumably a bunch as sold in the market, about five stalks) - peel off
the outer skin, but do not wash the bon - if it is dirty, use a clean cloth to remove the dirt
2 pieces of dried buffalo skin - put them in a charcoal fire until they are a bit burned on the
outside, then scrape off the burned part, cut the pieces into strips 3 mm wide and soak them in
water
3 fresh chilli peppers
2 (small) shallots
Seared the above two ingredients in a charcoal fire, then torn into small pieces
1 mak kawk treated like the chilli peppers and shallots
3 slices of galingale
sa-kahn - cut a section 3 cm long of its (thick) stem, then take off the hard outer skin and divide the
section vertically into 10 slices
2 bunches (about 6 sprigs) of dill, washed and chopped
10 jelly mushrooms, washed and divided into small pieces
salt and fish sauce
spring onion leaves, chopped
1 stalk of lemon grass - sear it in a charcoal fire, then wash it and crush it (with the flat of a heavy
knife or with a pestle) just enough to bring out the aroma
Method
Put 1 1/2 beakers (3/4 pint) of water in a pot on the fire. Add the following: salt, pork, buffalo
skin, sa-kahn, fresh chilli peppers, shallots, lemon grass, galingale and mushrooms. * When the
mixture comes to the boil, add the cleaned bon waan, cover the pot and leave it until the bon
waan is completely cooked. Then spoon out the bon waan, pound it, add fish sauce to it and return
it to the pot. Add the mak kawkand the dill. Taste and check the saltiness. Transfer everything to
a serving bowl, garnish it with the chopped spring onion and serve.
The dish should be accompanied by dok nam panya. (This name, which has no English equivalent,
refers to CAESALPINIA MIMOSOIDES, and means 'thorny flower of the Panya'. The Thai name is
phak pu ya, meaning 'grandparents' vegetable'.)
Note
In cooking Or Bon we must be cautious in selecting the bon, since otherwise the dish would cause
itching and would be inedible. Different types of bon waan which are popularly used in cooking for
their sweet flavour are:
Bon tao, whose special characteristic is that the leaves are thicker than those of other types; and Bon
kan kam, which one can easily recognise by the colour of its leaves and stems - the colour of which is
purplish.
Anyway, one should consult those who know these types of bon (before making the dish). As for the common bon with thin leaves, no matter how much people admire its sweet taste, its juice causes itching.Editors' Notes
* In the Lao text a superfluous sentence appears here, repeating the instruction to put these 'ten
ingredients' in. The figure of ten was no doubt reached by counting the water as one ingredient.
| 'OR LAM' OF WATER-BUFFALO MEAT |
Ingredients
3 pieces of dried buffalo meat, sliced into smaller pieces and washed
2 strips of dried buffalo skin - cook it by putting it directly into the charcoal fire and then scraping off
the burned parts, after which cut it into smaller pieces and soak them in water
3 or 4 (small) shallots, peeled
1 piece of crisp-fried pork skin, sliced into smaller pieces
1 piece of sa-kahn (an aromatic plant) 5 cm long-peel off and discard the rough outer skin and divide it
into 15 small parts
3 straight-bulbed spring onions
1 stalk of lemon grass-sear it in hot ashes, then wash it and crush it
7 young round eggplants
7 fresh chilli peppers (large ones)
1 bunch phak tam ling (an edible leaf)
1 bunch of young shoots (stems and leaves) of a chilli pepper plant
a considerable amount of sweet basil leaves
1 bunch of dill, chopped
a considerable amount of chopped spring onion leaves
salt and padek
Method
Put 1 1/2 metal jugfuls (1 1/2 pints) of water into a pot and place it on the fire. Add salt, the crushed
stalk of lemon grass, the buffalo meat, the buffalo skin, the shallots, the chilli peppers, the
eggplants and thesa-kahn. Wait for all this to come to the boil, then add some padek by using a
small-meshed strainer. Leave it boiling until the chilli peppers and eggplants are done - then take
out these ingredients, pound them finely and return them to the pot.
Next, add the phak tam ling and the young shoots of chilli pepper. Taste and check the saltiness.
Then add the crisp-fried pork skin, the chopped dill and the sweet basil leaves. Take the pot off
the fire. Transfer the contents to a bowl. Garnish the dish with chopped spring onion leaves and
serve it with Som Moo or Som Pa Keng.
Note
There is no one definite recipe for Or Lam because there are no fixed rules about how to make it.
Some people put in a very large quantity of fresh vegetables and mushrooms, until the dish is
more like an Or Phak (a vegetable Or). In fact, there are two types of Or Lam. One is called Or Ro:
and this is made by putting in meat or fish and vegetables and mushrooms - everything edible - in
large or small quantities. That is why they call it Or Ro. ('Ro' in Lao means to put in. So 'Or Ro' is the
result of putting in whatever you have.) The real Or Lam is the one I have explained above. The
tastes and smells of the two types ofOr Lam are different.
Ingredients
400 grams pork meat, including some fat, washed and minced 150 grams pork fat, washed and minced
2 dried chilli peppers, soaked in water until soft
10 (small) shallots
10 black peppercorns
pound the above three ingredients together finely
coriander leaves, finely chopped
salt and fish sauce
1 pig's intestine, turned inside out and washed and then turned right side out again
Method
Place in a bowl the pounded ingredients, the minced pork, the minced pork fat and the chopped
coriander leaves. Add the fish sauce and mix all together. Take a very small sample portion of the
mixture, wrap it in pieces of banana leaf and grill it until cooked. Taste it and check the saltiness.
(If this test is satisfactory you can proceed to make the sausages. If the taste of the grilled sample is
not right, adjust the seasoning.)
Stuff a section of the pig's intestine with the mixture from the bowl, taking care not to include
any air bubbles. If there are any, use a needle to let them escape.
Tie the intestine into portions as you stuff it, each portion to be 15 cm long. There should be
two knots between each section with a space in between for cutting them apart. Use a bamboo
holder to grill them until they are done. Then transfer them to a platter.
Serve with Jaew Bong.
| RICE VERMICELLI WITH CHILLI PEPPER SAUCE |
(First) ingredients
1 small rice-bowl (1/4 pint) of padek-(add 1/2 pint of water and) boil the padek until it is clear when
strained *
300 grams of pork, free of fat, minced, rolled into a big ball, poached in the padek liquid until cooked,
and then taken out of the pot and finely pounded
400 grams of pa nang (a catfish) or pa ked (any fish with scales)
1 kilo of pork bones (to make pork broth)
10 thin slices of galingale
10 straight - bulbed spring onions, both heads and leaves (salt)
Their preparation
Put 2 metal jugfuls (2 pints) of water in a pot, and put the pot on the fire. Put in the pork, the fish, the
galingale, spring onions and salt. Boil until the fish is cooked. Take it out, debone it and pound the
flesh finely.
Further ingredients and preparation of them
15 (small) heads of garlic, the cloves to be peeled and finely chopped, then fried in pork fat until
golden, and pounded
15 (small) shallots, (peeled and) thinly sliced, fried until golden in pork fat and then pounded
3 fully grown coconuts, husked and split open-grate the meat with a ka-tai ('rabbit'), put the
extraction of coconut milk into a pot and boil it until the liquid is reduced, but without letting
the cream separate, then take the pot off the fire
6 red chilli peppers, grilled until they are soft-then remove the cores and pound the peppers as
finely as possible before cooking them in coconut oil until a good aroma arises - do not let
the mixture become overcooked or it will turn black (instead of red)
salt and ground pepper
chopped coriander leaves
lime (juice, to taste)
vegetables to be eaten with the dish:
banana 'flower' sliced into long slices
7 sweet young eggplants, sliced and fried in pork fat
1 bunch of water spinach (phak bong), fried until done and then cut into pieces about 3 cm long
13 yard-long beans, fried and cut into pieces 3 cm long
6 dried chilli peppers, fried in pork fat until soft 2 na of rice vermicelli (cooked)
Method
Put the minced pork, the prepared fish, the pounded spring onions and the garlic in a mixing-bowl.
Add the padek sauce, previously prepared, and stir until these ingredients are mixed together, then
add the pork broth and the (reduced) coconut milk. Stir, taste and check the saltiness. Squeeze in
some lime juice. Add the fried mixture of red chilli peppers. Transfer this whole mixture to a
big bowl. Garnish with ground black pepper and chopped coriander leaves. (The sauce is now ready.)
Put the rice vermicelli on a platter, in the middle. Arrange the cut-up vegetables around it, and
place the whole fried chilli peppers on top. Serve the sauce separately.
* Editors' Note. Phia Sing specifies that the straining should be done with a sua pao (part of a
coconut tree) and kaen fai (which means cotton seed), but we are not sure just what he meant. A
muslin cloth should do.
| BOILED CHICKEN YAM (mixture) |
Ingredients
1 chicken, plucked-split open its underside and pull out the intestines; remove and cut open the
gizzard, and strip it of its lining; wash the chicken and the gizzard thoroughly, and put them with
some salt and (peeled) shallots in a pot, with water to cover the chicken (but no more), and boil
until the chicken is tender
(1) young cucumber, peeled and quartered lengthways-then cut the pieces into slices of suitable size
2 large, ripe tomatoes, dipped in hot water (for a minute), peeled, halved and sliced lengthways,
discarding the centre part and the seeds
2 straight-bulbed spring onions, chopped-both the bulbs and the leaves
2 large fresh red chilli peppers, cut across into halves, sliced lengthways, cored and soaked in water
5 (small) shallots
2 (small) heads of garlic
These two ingredients above are to be almost, not completely, cooked by placing them in the embers
of a charcoal fire, and then (peeled and) sliced across
3 sprigs of coriander, chopped
salt, fish sauce and ground black pepper
a lime
Method
Take the boiled chicken out of its pot and transfer it to a large bowl. Tear off the breasts and legs and
remove all the meat from the carcase. Break the legs and the wings at their joints. Tear the breasts into
suitable large pieces, and do the same with the legs and the wings. Then add the sliced or chopped ingredients (kheuang soi), except for the spring onions and coriander, to the bowl (of chicken).
Sprinkle them with salt and add some of the chicken broth, just enough to keep the mixture moist.
Then sprinkle it with fish sauce (and the juice of the lime). Mix thoroughly, taste, and check the
saltiness. Sprinkle ground black pepper and the chopped spring onion leaves on top, arrange on a
platter and garnish with the chopped coriander.
| A DISH OF POUNDED CATFISH |
Ingredients
1 piece of pa leum (a large catfish), free of bones, the size of a hand-wash it, slice it thinly, put it in
a pot with water barely covering it, sprinkle it with salt and fish sauce (it should be quite salty), boil
it until cooked, then take the pot from the fire
6 sweet young round eggplants
2 (small) heads of garlic
4 (small) shallots
3 fresh chilli peppers
These four ingredients above are to be cooked in the embers of a charcoal fire, then peeled and
pounded together to constitute the kheuang hom
1 straight-bulbed spring onion-chop both the bulb and the leaves finely
1 sprig of coriander, chopped
2 Kaffir lime leaves, chopped
salt and fish sauce
Method
Combine the boiled fish with the kheuang hom in a mortar and pound together finely. Then add the
water in which the fish was cooked and stir until the mixture is thick (i.e. like a thick soup).
Add the spring onion and chopped Kaffir lime leaves. Do not let the mixture become either too
thick or too runny. Taste, and check the saltiness.
Arrange the mixture on a platter, garnish it with the chopped coriander and serve it with Keng
Som (a sour soup), young cucumbers and other vegetables which are suitable accompaniments.
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