Photo by Mick Shippen
I confess to knowing lamentably little about the food and cooking of Laos. The late, great Alan Davidson sparked my interest while I was still in my teens with his Fish and Fish Dishes of Laos, and I have been open to learning more ever since. Now, my teens were a long, long time ago – Davidson’s book was published half a century back! – but good things come, they say, to those who wait, and the fact that I now have Ponpailin ‘Noi' Kaewduangdee’s magisterial Recipes from Noi’s Lao Kitchen in front of me would seem to corroborate that. I could not be happier. It’s a big, beautiful, lovingly created book: a feast for the curious cook and a comprehensive and intimately authoritative primer on a fascinating culinary culture.
In the general run of things, I give a shortlist of recipes to try and convey the taste and scope of the cookbooks I bring to your attention here. In this case, I’m not sure it’s possible to do so fairly and accurately. There is just too much in this vast, beautifully illustrated volume (it weighs in at over 2 kilos) and it is more than just a collection of recipes, some of which, indeed, you’d need to be in Laos to find the ingredients for – though there is much that those of us outside the country can cook from it, too. And if you want a copy of the book, indeed, you will have to order it from there, and see below. But I do also feel it would be wrong not to give you an idea of what kind of food you will find in its pages. “Defining the food of a country that is home to more than 50 ethnic groups is an almost impossible task” as Noi writes. “One of the most common answers you may hear in response to the question, ‘what is Lao food?’ is ‘well, it’s kind of like Thai food’.” And this book shows where that’s so, and how it also very much isn’t.
With all that in mind, before I present the recipe I’ve chosen to share with you today, I shall highlight some of the dishes you will find here, from the sharp and spicy dipping sauce Jaew Hua Bauk; the Boiled Egg and Herb Relish, Jaew Kai Tom; Tam Mak Muang (Spicy Mango Salad); Charcoal-Grilled Chicken (Ping Gai); Raw Beef Laab (Laab Ngua Dip); Chicken Soup with Tamarind, Roasted Rice Powder, Dried Chilli and Herbs (Sua Gai Laad); Braised Duck Leg with Ginger, Garlic, Shallots, Spring Onions and Kaffir Lime Leaves (Ob Kar Ped); Naem Khao (Crispy Rice Ball Salad); and, for the barbecue, the compelling Soured Belly Pork, or Som Moo Sahm San. Pork plays a central role in these pages, and that is reflected in the recipe I’m thrilled to be sharing with you today, namely the Pho Noodle Soup with Pork Balls, Pho Sai Luk Sin Moo.
From A Child of the Rice Fields: Recipes from Noi's Lao Kitchen by Ponpailin ‘Noi’ Kaewduangdee & Mick Shippen.
Published by Doi Ka Noi. Currently it is only available through Kitchen Arts and Letters, an independent specialist bookshop in New York (kitchenartsandletters.com), and by mail order from Doi Ka Noi in Vientiane, Laos. Please email hello@doikanoi.com for details.
