The Cooking of Lao Food - SimplicityThe cooking is done wherever it is possible to light a fire. This requires nothing more than firewood and arranging three rocks in a circle to serve as fireplace onto which pots can be placed. All you need is a steam pot and bamboo basket to steam the sticky rice or anything else and a pot to cook other food. The rest is grilled on wooden skewers or wrapped and roasted in banana leaves. A mortar & pestle to make the life sustaining papaya salad or jeow (Lao style dip) and to pound the herbs and spices for cooking complete this short list of necessary utensils*. That's it, can be taken anywhere. Sophistication in simplicity - the cooking of delicious food.
Out of necessity, food has to be freshly cooked because electricity is a fairly recent phenomenon in Laos and still not widely available in the countryside, meaning no fridge and thus no food storage. That's why the fresh markets (talat sot) all over the country are busy in the mornings and again late afternoons. Everything is newly slaughtered, caught, fished or trapped and gathered twice a day: weeds, leaves, herbs, roots, honey, frogs, insects. Wood and charcoal fired stoves are commonly used even in today's Viangchan. Small trucks cruising the streets of the cities deliver the charcoal to the doorstep. Gas stoves are a luxury mostly found in restaurants and newly built apartments.
A feast typically consists of a soup (tom or gaeng), something grilled or steamed (ping or neung), a sour dish (som), a sauce or dip (jeow), greens (pak), a stew (or) and a mixed dish (goy or laab) or a fried one (khoua). An everyday meal will do with sticky rice, a dip and something else, probably grilled, which is easy to make and carry around with the rest. A feast typically consists of a soup (tom or gaeng), something grilled or steamed (ping or neung), a sour dish (som), a sauce or dip (jeow), greens (pak), a stew (or) and a mixed dish (goy or laab) or a fried one (khoua). An everyday meal will do with sticky rice, a dip and something else, probably grilled, which is easy to make and carry around with the rest.
Spicy, not necessarily. Chillies travelled with the Portuguese from South America, reaching the shores of the Middle East and Asia in the early 16th century, where they met their cousins, the native peppercorns. There are plenty of preparations without any chillies at all and there is many a Lao palate and stomach that doesn't tolerate them.
The general preference is rather for the tougher, chewier bits of meat than the tender pieces.
The Essence of Lao Cooking - The Essence of Life
Simple, light and fresh; that's it. There is no other cuisine in the world that so instinctively follows these utterly convincing principles. What else could be more easily produced and be healthier, more wholesome for the body, than Lao food. Simplicity reigns supreme, it rules our lives. The soaring beauty of this simple acceptance of all things simple is the inspiration for living one's life.
The Lao celebrate it everyday with food in the company of family and friends in some form or other. It happens along the sidewalk, in the garden, underneath the house, on the floor or around a restaurant table. Be happy with the food provided, you are already lucky. Why labour in pursuit of the illusion of more. What for? Bo pen yang!
"Happy people are content people. Learn to be content with what you've got and you'll be happy."
Baci - The Ceremony for Life
It is the very soul of all Lao ceremonies, the heartbeat of life, a colourful and meaningful event. This auspicious tradition manifests an intense intercourse with the spirit world relied upon expeditiously in all minor or major affairs, misfortune or happiness. Obviously this is celebrated with food. Thick wafers of sticky white rice noodles (khao poun) served with nam (water) is the customary dish accompanied by assorted herbs and vegetables.
What's in a Name
The same food will probably be called something else from province to province while a dish of the same
name may well be prepared in another way; with nobody ever agreeing on anything! Upcountry dialects add further colouring to the debate. Hilarity in frustration. Does it matter as long as the food is great? Keep it simple; call things small - large, red - green - white - yellow, sweet - salty - sour which is common enough for everybody to understand. Anything more tests people's patience. Don't be shy in the market to point things out with your finger, simple.
You are not cooking with words, you are cooking with food! No worries!
* Note that a wok is not used in Lao cooking. I know, entire books have been written about this much hyped rounded Chinese frying pan and the wonders it supposedly works. Well, it's great for a noisy show, that's all. This super heated, quickie way of fixing food is nothing other than the blatant and ignorant violation of innocent ingredients. Food needs time and time we have aplenty in patient anticipation. Today's restaurants need to use the wok because, for them, time is money; they are not cooking Lao food.
Article Source: Vincent_Fischer-Zernin
No comments:
Post a Comment