You can tell a lot about a country from the ingredients that make up some of their most well-known dishes. A few examples: The good ole US of A, high-fructose-corn-syrup, orange cheese and turkey….that’s probably not been too fair, you could say Australia is known for kangaroo, beer and beer. Let’s try somewhere easier: Italy - tomato, olive oil and basil or Japan - soy, rice and, umm, fish!
If I was to ask the same of Laos, what would you think of first? Mostly you’d be channelling dishes from its neighbours like Thailand, Vietnam and even China. And sure they do use a lot of the same ingredients like lemongrass, galangal and tamarind but also they have a wealth of other ingredients from the jungles and fields that a distinctly Lao like bamboo shoots, sticky rice, betel leaves and rice paddy herbs along with the ubiquitous fish from the Mekong, and pungent fish sauce.
In a country that doesn’t really have refrigeration outside the capital Vientiane, the food found here is a wonder of freshness, delicacy and flavour. We’ve had experience of seasonal workers making profoundly good dishes from catching local game and fish along with a well prepared garden. So it wasn’t too much of a surprise to see the food of Laos being so distinct and beautiful.
My life partner (aka wife) is involved in a charity, Abundant Water, that has solid roots in Laos, she recently visited and came back with images, stories and a terrific cookbook. I thought long and hard about trying to bring this experience to a broader audience plus a recipe that is distinctly Lao.
A quick story about the man behind abundant water (you can read more detail on the website) Sunny Forsyth is a young guy with a big heart and even bigger plans, makes you feel like you’ve really wasted your youth on booze, broads and booze. As a youth ambassador to Laos in 2007 he saw the need for clean water in this very slowly developing country. Made all the more slower, it has to be said, by the fact that over 2 million tonnes of bombs were dropped here - plus millions of carefully placed mines - during the American war (As they call it there) four decades ago. A bevy of explosives called cluster munitions, land serviced munitions and good old ‘general’ purpose bombs. These all form part of the ‘UXO problem’ as in un-exploded ordinance.
And that’s a huge understatement it being a problem. Problems are usually like you break your shoe lace and have to adapt, having thousands of un-exploded bombs everywhere is something entirely different.
So Forsyth with the help of family and friends came up with an easily made clay water filter than can use coffee grounds as the basis for the filtration. Since then he and his team in Australia and Laos have sort getting funding and education to where it is needed. The Laos project is a blue print of what can be achieved wherever water quality is an issue to development, which is just about everywhere it turns out.
So this cookbook ‘From Honeybees to Pepperwood” Creative Lao cooking produced by, yes another charity, Friends international, is based on the dishes produced at the training restaurant called Makphet in the capital. Here’s a recipe for a dish you see as an appetiser around the country. A spicy sausage with a lovely tomato and shallot dipping sauce.
Spiced Lao pork sausage (based on same from ‘From Honeybees to pepperwood’ Lao cookbook).
500g pure pork sausage, skin removed, meat broken up
2 stalks lemongrass, white part only chopped
8 spring onions, chopped
6 Shallots, peeled and chopped
4 Coriander roots, scrubbed
1/2 cup coriander leaf, chopped
2 Chillies, finely chopped
4 Kaffir lime leaf, shredded
20g cooked rice (sticky or other)
1 tspn black pepper
1 tspn sugar
1 tspn chilli powder
1 tbspn soy
2 tbspn fish sauce
1 tbspn oyster sauce
Salt
In a mortar and pestle arrangement or blender, grind or blitz a paste from the lemongrass, coriander root, shallot and spring onion. Mix everything together to form a mass of pasty forcemeat.
Pack the meat neatly into a lined loaf tin. Bake in a 150C oven for 25-30 minutes, doesn’t need to be cooked through just set. Let this cool completely and chill. Cut into 6 sausage sized oblongs (you can pre-empt this by making the cuts before you cook). To serve, heat a charcoal grill up with good embers, brush sausage with oil and grill on all sides until they look charry and cooked through. You could also fill sausage casings with this forcemeat.
Slice and serve with the grilled tomato dip and sticky rice.
Grilled tomato, garlic and shallot dip
5 tomatoes
8 shallots
12 garlic cloves
10 chillies
1 tspn sugar
3 tbspn fish sauce
1 tbspn lime juice
Coriander leaves
Salt
Grill tomato, garlic, shallots and chillies until charred, peel shallot and garlic, grind everything else in a mortar until mushy, season with sugar, lime and fish sauce, garnish with coriander. Taste and balance with salt and extra lime juice if needed.
Steamed sticky rice (or any steamed rice will do)
500g sticky rice (available from Asian grocers)
1.5l water
Soak the rice in the water overnight. Drain and ¾ fill a sticky rice steamer (also available at said store) set up on a wire rack over boiling water in a pot large enough to cover and steam for 15 minutes, turn basket over and cook for another 15 minutes. Once you’ve mastered this you’ll use it often.