Travel to Live. Live to Travel

Lemongrass, galangal, spicy wood, and many other things make up the base flavors of Lao food

Hey foodies! This post and photos are for you! In Luang Prabang, we decided to check out the cooking class by Tamarind (a restaurant) which was highly regarded (and turned out to be good).

The class started out with a market tour led by our Lao teacher, Jack. He pointed out various herbs, meats, and sauces used by Laotians (insert whinging by an annoying old Australian couple here about the cleanliness of the market and how awful it is to eat certain meats, waaaah). After that, we were taken to the riverside kitchen to cook.

Something I noticed before is that in Lao, most cooking is down over hot coals. Most people don’t have electricity at home and therefore, no stoves or ovens (remember, electricity only really came to Lao 15 years ago). Cooking is primarily done by grilling, stewing, or steaming. This is also one of the poorest, most isolated countries on earth so, traditionally, food is also very simple. The ingredient list might be quite long, but it’s all stuff that can be picked in your garden (or foraged from the forest/riverbank.)

Steaming sticky rice over coals, the Lao way of cooking

Another important point in Lao cuisine is the fact they use sticky rice to eat. They pull rice out of the steamer, then ball it up into their hands and dip it into different food. Therefore, Lao food tends not to be as soupy/creamy/oily as Thai food. Lao food tastes more “herby,” and what we discovered was that it was flavor overload for basically everyone.

On the menu were several dishes. Orlahm, is a traditional stew in Luang Prabang made with buffalo meat and basically every herb you can think of in huge quantities. It also contained something they call spicy wood, which is…wood. It was pretty weird eating wood, the outside is super bitter and spicy while the inside tastes like peppery chicken. It also makes your mouth feel like you’ve been injected with novacaine. I don’t feel any guilt in saying I’d never eat it again.

Hugh models a wonderfully marinated tilapia

We also made a delicious steamed Tilapia in banana leaves. Once again, the marinade was made up of every herb in existence. But it was really, really nice. A few little alterations and I could definitely add this to my dinner repetoire (the authentic way is a little too flavor country for me.)

Next was the technically difficult to make, stuffed lemongrass. How do you stuff lemongrass, you ask? Well. It was hard. But the results were delicious. Ingredients were minced chicken, lemongrass, every herb in existence (okay, okay–Lao basil, coriander, kaffir lime…oh geez, I don’t know.)

We also made our own spicy Lao dip and laap (a meat salad–I made mine with water buffalo meat). Hugh indulged in the fried worms/catepillars that were offered as a snack. I declined. Nonetheless, I knocked back a shot of lao-lao (aka moonshine) mixed with honey and orange. It still didn’t provide me the courage to eat the grubs though.

All in all, a very good use of the day. You know how they say the quickest way to a man’s heart is through his stomach? I always thought that saying had real meaning beyond men being really hungry. =P I believe food is a great way to understand someone, and a culture. Thailand knew this when they sent chefs all over the world to open up Thai restaurants: get people to love your food, and they will love your country (or at least they’ll be up for a visit.)

Grilling stuffed lemongrass while orlahm bubbles on the "stove"

Voila! Stuffed lemongrass and steamed tilapia

One of the best things about my job is that I have the liberty to create and execute my own events. Two years ago me and an ex-co-worker started (bi-)monthly cooking classes, despite the fact neither of us were particularly excellent cooks.

I just held my 9th cooking class yesterday and it was one of the best yet. We did Thai cooking and I was just really pleased with the outcome. One of the biggest frustrations are the crotchedy housewives who join and complain about everything. Some Japanese women go crazy if you tell them, “cut it however you want,” or “put as much pepper as you like,” for some of them they must know EXACTLY how many milimeters to cut a cucumber or exactly how many teaspoons of pepper goes in…and anyone who cooks knows that it is rarely EVER so precise (except in baking). I’ve hosted classes when a group of women snickered to themselves, “hah, just like an American to be so sloppy,” when I said that it didn’t matter how you cut the carrot as long as the pieces were bite size.

Ah well, cultural differences, right?

Luckily, those sorts of people rarely ever come back, and instead I have a bit of a following of people who come every month to learn new recipes. I love that they’re always so shocked the ingredients mostly come from the local supermarket. But I mean, it takes an outsider sometimes to tell you about the things you never notice. For example, I never noticed the grocery stores in Indianapolis only sell 3 kinds of cheese (mozerella, american, and cheddar) until Hugh (who is used to seeing more in Melbourne) pointed it out. Geez, what is gouda cheese anyways? (Note: I know now, because my little town in Japan only sells 2 kinds of cheese, one which is gouda.)

I’m never going to “internationalize” the whole city, but I am very pleased when I see that I can make a difference on a smaller level.

I’m posting from Chiang Mai, Thailand (in the northern mountainous region) and I don’t think I have ever taken to a city so quickly. This city has the feeling of a small, provincial capital, but yet manages to feel 100x times more international and cosmopolitan than your typical small, provincial capital.

I’ve had a lovely time with Hugh browsing markets, walking everywhere (and possibly getting a reputation from tuktuk drivers as brokeass foreigners) and eating delicious food 4 or 5 times a day.

We spent the first few days exploring the city on foot, negotiating transportation fares, meeting up with some home-stay students I met in Japan, and just in general enjoying ourselves. It’s laid-back and people are friendly. We have been trying our best to speak in Thai, but everyone seems to have passable English so I don’t think we’ve made much progress.

We took a Thai cooking class, which was fascinating…I had no idea so many of my favorite dishes were so easy to make…assuming of course, I have access to the ingredients (unlikely–have I ever mentioned I grow my own cilantro and chives back in Japan and it ended in absolute failure?) Afterward, we indulged in my personal favorite aspect of Thai culture–the belief in the mental and physical benefits of massage. Great.

Tomorrow we leave for Cambodia….

P.S. I have had an epic chili-cheese-onion-saurkraut hotdog and the BEST enchilada I have ever had…in CHIANG MAI. The quality of food is ridiculously good here, both Thai and Western. I am amazed.