What to eat Laos? culinary specialties and gastronomy

Khao niao or sticky rice (often referred to as sticky rice on restaurant menus) is a staple food in Laos. This variety of rice is known for its pure white grains and its high starch content. However, it is not sticky but rather sticky, which makes it easy to eat by hand by forming small balls that are dipped in sauce. It is a nutritious food, inexpensive and traditionally reserved for peasants. It is steamed in small woven bamboo baskets. Some varieties of glutinous rice are purple. It can even be roasted and ground into a powder to give a light nutty taste to salads and soups.

As early as the 16th century, Europeans were already exploring and trading with mainland Southeast Asia as far as Vientiane and Luang Prabang. They imported chili peppers, which became a key element of the Laotian cuisine, which is one of the spiciest in the region. They also imported tomatoes, papaya, sweet corn, peanuts and pineapples from the American continent. Coming from Africa, the kilometer bean or asparagus cowpea is indeed a kind of green bean that can reach 1 m long. On the other hand, eggplant, cucumber, squash, cabbage, soybean, water bindweed or mango, very common in Laos, are from Asia. Fresh herbs, such as coriander, mint, Thai basil, spring onion or lemongrass, are widely used to garnish various dishes.

With the expansion of Siam, Laos was absorbed into the kingdom as early as the 18th century. In the West, and especially in France, Laotian cuisine is still little known, even if part of what is served in Thai restaurants is of Laotian origin. Indeed, the Isan region, in the east of Thailand, is mainly populated by Lao people, who brought with them specialities that are now considered Thai.

Typical Lao restaurants offer tasty home cooking at reasonable prices. Cheap gargotes can be found near the bus stations or in the markets. There are also night markets (from 6 pm to 10 pm) in many cities, such as Vientiane, Luang Prabang, Luang Namtha, for example. It is a must to eat local dishes in an authentic atmosphere. There are a few Laotian, Asian and Western gourmet restaurants in Vientiane and Luang Prabang. Not forgetting the Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese and Indian restaurants, for those who want to change a little.

As everywhere in Asia, the Lao people eat at all hours of the day. If there are three meals a day, in a way, we eat at any occasion. Everywhere there are stalls selling drinks, soups, cakes, snacks, etc.. Markets are very busy places, early in the morning or late in the afternoon. You can usually eat there and discover all the local curiosities.

The separation between appetizer and main course is subtle in Laos. It is therefore not uncommon to find appetizers, soups, salads and side dishes on the table at the same time. Jaew is a type of thick vegetable-based sauce, which usually accompanies rice, such as jaew mak khua with grilled eggplant, jaew mak len with tomato, jaew bong with chili, or jaew padaek made with padaek, the famous Lao fish paste. They are usually very spicy. Otherwise you can nibble, with a beer, the famous kaipen, Mekong seaweed crackers flavored with sesame, or some grilled meats like sai kok or sai oua, two types of sausages finely seasoned with lemongrass. Unless you are tempted by seen savanh, sweet and sour beef jerky. The som moo is a type of sausage in brine, usually cut in slices and served on a bed of aromatic herbs and chopped chilies. With Vietnamese influence, one can also taste yaw dip (spring rolls) and yaw jeun (egg rolls).

Lao cuisine makes generous use of fresh or barely cooked vegetables, and there are many salads. Larb or laap is one of the most famous Lao dishes. This spicy minced meat salad can be prepared with pork, but also with duck, chicken, beef or fish. It is richly garnished with mint, basil, coriander and sticky rice powder. Another iconic Lao recipe, the green papaya salad or tam mak hoong, is made of crunchy grated green papaya, tomato, peanuts, fish sauce and chilli, of course. Other similar recipes include banana flower, cucumber, grilled eggplant or grapefruit.

Although Laotians use coconut milk less abundantly than the Thais, there are some recipes such as kaeng galee or yellow curry, usually with chicken, which makes good use of it. Other recipes include keng no mai soup , a thick, spicy bamboo shoot soup, and or lam, a mildly spicy beef and vegetable stew from Luang Prabang. The term tom often describes soups, such as tom jeaw pa, a spicy fish soup, tom kha gai, a creamy coconut milk soup with chicken and mushrooms, or tom yum, a sour and spicy lemongrass soup usually topped with meat or fish.

The term ping generally describes grilled food in Laos. One can find chicken (ping gai), pork (ping moo), duck (ping ped), beef (ping vu) or fish (ping pa). These foods are usually marinated in a rich mixture of galangal, chili, ginger, lemongrass and garlic before being grilled on large barbecues that can be found in all Laotian markets. On the other hand, one can taste several types of steamed specialties such as mok pa (fish) or mok gai (chicken), cooked in banana leaf ballottines.

The inventory would not be complete without of course mentioning the many rice and noodle-based specialities, such as the classic khao phat or Laotian-style fried rice, topped with chicken, pork, omelette and vegetables. Often served for breakfast, khao piak khao is a rice porridge containing hard-boiled eggs, fried garlic and green onions. The nam khao is a tasty salad made with fried rice balls, pieces of fermented pork sausage(som moo), chopped peanuts, grated coconut, sliced green onions or shallots, mint, coriander, lime juice and fish sauce. On the noodle side we can mention the khao piak sen, a soup of rice noodles in chicken broth. Another noodle soup, but this time based on rice vermicelli, the khao poon is sometimes lengthened with a dash of coconut milk and generally garnished with vegetable sticks. Of course, there are also recipes for sautéed noodles such as lard na, which consists of large noodles accompanied by leafy vegetables, chicken and a thick sauce. Otherwise the pad lao are fried noodles with vegetables garnished with omelette, close to the famous pad thai. Finally the yum sen lon is a tangy salad of vermicelli with vegetables.

The markets offer a wide variety of excellent fruits such as pineapple, banana, coconut, whose juice is drunk, or papaya. Less well known are the carambola, rambutan, longan, sapodilla and mangosteen, all of which have a delicate taste, while the durian has a yellowish, creamy pulp known to smell like cheese. Highly sought after by the locals, they are quite expensive.

Most sweets are made with glutinous rice and coconut milk. The khao lam is a specialty of glutinous rice and sweetened coconut milk cooked in a bamboo over embers. Otherwise, the classic khao niao mak muang or mango sticky rice is worth trying as well as khao tom, rice with coconut milk and banana steamed in a banana leaf. More surprisingly, lod xong is a green worm-like dessert made of rice jelly, coconut milk and liquefied palm sugar. The khanom mo kaeng is a dense cake, similar to a flan, with sweet potato and coconut.