Lao Food? Love It!

One of the things I enjoyed in Laos was the food. On my first day, I had a taste of feu, or Lao beef noodle stew. This stew with rice noodles was served to us with herbs, bean sprouts, and string beans. I've never eaten uncooked string beans, but this time I took them raw. The crunchy uncooked string beans took on a spicy-sweet-nutty taste when dipped in peanut sauce.

Feu 

At the recently opened Kap Khao Lao restaurant along Luang Prabang Road, our local host ordered traditional Lao food for us to savor. Of course, we had sticky rice served in bamboo containers. Just like the way it’s normally eaten in Laos, we shaped the sticky grains into small balls and ate them with our bare hands together with lab kai (minced chicken salad) and sin dat dyo (fried dried pork). We also had mok pa (steamed fish in banana leaves), keng som pa (sour fish soup), and keng nor mai (bamboo soup). For appetizer, we had tam mak hoong (papaya salad) topped with the familiar chicharon or pork rind. Lao papaya salad is seasoned with fish sauce and shrimp paste, or in Filipino, bagoong. 

Sin dat dyo, keng nor mai
and sticky rice (inside the bamboo container)

Lab kai

Keng som pa

Mok pa

My food experience in Laos was pleasurable. I’m not fond of spicy food but I came to enjoy the ones I ate because they were also flavored with refreshing herbs and spices like basil, lemon grass, mint, lime, tamarind, and galangal which looks a bit like ginger but not as strong as its taste. The fruits I tasted like dragon fruit, ripe papaya, and lanzones were very sweet, The French  bread we had for breakfast were superb. 

Sticky rice and spring rolls

I will also remember eating in Laos because for the first time, I was lured into trying kua tuk tan or fried insects. Actually, the small winged creatures didn't look distasteful. They even smelled like citrus and looked palatable because they were fried with herbs. I only chomped on a few pieces, just enough for a beginner's taste. 

Kua tuk tan

I gained a few pounds after almost a week of eating Lao food. I missed the papaya salad so much that as soon as I returned home, I made my own version of tam mak hoong. Looking forward to more Lao food!

My version of tam mak hoong