Beautiful Colors of Laos @ Kong View Restaurant

It’s time to break the hiatus(…again)

 

I’m now a short-timer here in Laos and as such, I am frantically eating and photogging as much as I can before my time is up.

 

I was working for a while and that had been my excuse not to blog anything. That excuse went along with the job... Then it was a lost recipe that was holding back another post.

 

Realizing my short-timer status (and my newly-mandated free-time) I’ve decided to just do it. Why not? I love eating and taking pictures and writing about it. It’s like something you really enjoy doing when you sit down to do it, but you never actually sit down to do it. This is a BAAAD funk to get into. Break it! Break it down!!!

Now begins the actual blog content…

 

I’ve been to Kong View many times and have heard the food’s rave reviews. Unfortunately all of my previous experiences with KV have been at night or sans camera. Thankfully my camera was attached to my wrist today! I think I really lucked out with the view we got with the Mekong and the fisherman speeding past. A quick hand to my camera didn’t hurt matters either.. The colors out on the river are just so ALIVE! The water levels seem to be “up” so close-up opportunities are abound.

On to the food.

Ever since I discovered Tom Yum Minced Pork ramen noodles from WaiWai I’ve had this ungodly craving for the stuff. Trust me, the ramen is so good I am bringing home CASES of the stuff! Tom Yum is a soup (if you couldn’t tell from the photo). It’s bit sour, salty, tangy, yummmm. This Tom Yum is Tom Yum Gai (chicken) and i my experience, Tom Yum of any variety should be spicy. Even though I spoke Lao to the waitress she still saw Falang and as a result, there weren’t any chilis in my Tom Yum :( This is quickly remedied, “Pusao, a nee baw phet. Khaw Makphet, baw?” (Miss, this is not spicy. Could I have some chilis?) Soon after this request, a bowl of freshly sliced chilis are brought to my plate and are ceremoniously (yes, ceremoniously) dumped into my Tom Yum. The chili adding was done after the photos were taken so you can’t really get the full effect.

Of course, no blog post of mine would be complete without the obligatory  extreme close-up food porn. I will say that the chicken used in my Tom Yum was very…”country. By that I mean made with the less desirable parts of the chicken or parts that contained a lot of bone or connective tissue. Baw pen yang, I can eat around it :)

Another dish of the day was the surprisingly delectable Cashew Chicken. As its name implies, Cashew Chicken has cashews and chicken. What its name doesn’t imply is that it is also chock full of awesomeness. Awesomeness and Yum! This dish tastes as if it was prepared in a similar manner to American-Chinese food. Very delicious and full of umami so often found in wok-cooked foods. We had so much food that I got this packed up to go, but ate it soon after getting home. It was that good!

As is tradition, (and tasty) some sticky rice was ordered. Culturally, it is used a healthy meal filler. It’s also less expensive than processed carbs (Breads, flours, etc.) and proteins. In my opinion, sticky rice is most useful as the vehicle for your journey into the flavors of Lao food (Yeah, I know it went over the top..). Just pull off a small handful and smush it together. From here you can dip your sticky rice mound into all sorts of sauces and dishes. I’ll sometimes end up doing this and finish the sticky rice before I get to the other foods..

Thanks and enjoy!

Tuong Ot Xa (Vietnamese Lemongrass Chili Sauce)

Ok. Long hiatus, I know, but I am back. Easing back into things, I made a DELICIOUS chili sauce from Wandering Chopsticks. Ever since I had my first bowl of Phở I have been mesmerized by Vietnamese food. It is just so completely different from the cuisine of the rest of SE Asia. It’s kind of hard to describe, but the flavors are so yummy and mesh so well, like nothing else. I hope to cook more Vietnamese food, and a sauce is a nice, simple way to introduce yourself to a cuisine. This sauce is exceptionally simple. It’s so delicious that I will definitely make it again, yet with an uncomplicated ingredient list I will always have in my pantry.

 

 

 

 

To the surprise of most Lao people, I LOVE chilis and always ask for my food, “Phet Phet” (~ Hot Hot).  Even I was surprised by how many chilis went into this sauce (100) but that number will fluctuate each time it gets made because, obviously, the chilis will vary in size. A note of caution on the chilis: when opening the lid of the food processor, don’t have any noses or eyes (or other sensitive parts, do I really have to tell you?) too close. Those fumes will melt off some layer you didn’t even realize you had. My finger actually burned for a while after I fished out the last bit from the FP into the wok. I think the spot was already sensitive due to a slight injury received during a chopsticks bout…

The lemongrass takes the longest of the ingredients to cook, so it gets added first. If you don’t pay attention to it the lemongrass can burn. (More notes in my adaptation of the recipe)

As soon as you have the next ingredients prepped, add them to the wok. There’s no timing involved here yet, so take as much time as you wish. The lemongrass can always benefit from more time..

In the end, this is what my sauce ended up looking like. If you use the proper amount of 0il in the beginning then it *may* be a brighter color. It’s been about two days since I made this sauce and my house (not just my kitchen) still smells of this stuff. Great because it’s yummy!!

Now for the recipe: Tuong Ot Xa (Vietnamese Lemongrass Chili Sauce) Adapted from Wandering Chopsticks recipe

Makes 2-4 Cups

1 1/2 cups fresh chili peppers of your choice (Remove the stems, if they are larger than ~2in. halve them)
For color, 1/2 cup of dried chili pods or 1/4 cup Sriracha chili hot sauce (I lucked out and found smoked chili powder accidentally. Delicious mistake!)
1-1.5 lemongrass stalks, finely minced (The lemongrass here is about 14 inches long and nearly 3/4 in. wide at its base. If yours is smaller, use 2)
6 cloves of garlic, minced (Get ‘em as big and fat as you can. You can add more if you want for more dragon breath)
4 shallots, or 1 small onion, minced
Salt to taste
1-2 tblsp sugar
1-2 tblsp white vinegar
2 to 4 tblsp fish sauce
~ 1 cup, or more vegetable oil, or a neutral-tasting oil. Olive and sesame oils would be too overpowering.

Note: This can be done with everything  prepared in advance and just thrown in, but you’ll have to add in time for things to cook. The way detailed here is simpler.

1.  Heat wok and 1/2 c oil on low

2.  Cut the lemongrass into 1-2 in. chunks and add to food processor. Get as fine as you can then add to the oil. This is intended to be a long slow cooking. You want it high enough to make noises when you put the lemongrass in, but low enough so you can focus on preparing your other ingredients.

3. Put the chilis into the FP next. Same as before, get it as fine as you can. My FP is older than I am and small, so my sauce is pretty chunky still. Don't smell too strongly or put your eyes near it. Best way to scoop the last bits stuck to the side is NOT your finger! Use anything else you can. This much capsaicin can even burn your skin..

4. FP the Garlic and Shallots/onion. Make a little space in the middle to ensure they get some wok contact. Add some oil if needed. Just to make sure they don’t stick to bad. Once those look like they’ve been cooked down a bit, it’s time to add our liquids.

5. Stir everything in your wok together well. In a small bowl mix the vinegar, fish sauce and sugar. Stir this into the wok and then add the chili powder/ground dry chilis and mix. Add the rest of the oil. Throughout the recipe, make sure to keep the sauce “moist” with oil. At no time should anything seem dry.

6. Bring the heat up a bit to let this simmer for AT LEAST 10 minutes. I let mine simmer for a bit longer because my lemongrass was still pretty rough and I didn’t add enough oil until right at the end.

 

There you have it! A great, easy chili sauce that people will LOVE. I’ve been putting it on everything when I cook as a base sauce, a dipping sauce, whatever you want it for. This stuff is powerful. I even needed water when I was testing the flavor!

Delicious Fried Fish @ Kop Chai Deu Restaurant

OH. WOW!!

 

When I was a kid, I never liked fish. Detested really. I never knew why.

 

Recently, I have developed a great taste for fish and other seafood, thanks in large part to a great food friend of mine. Thanks!

 

If I were to rate fish, this would definitely be on my top five.

 

It is fried, but not heavily battered like you would see on the the deep south… (Fried catfish, anyone?) It doesn’t even seem like it has been battered, more like a yummy crisp crust.

 

It sits on a bed of fried seaweed (Nori?) and roasted (Or fried) lemongrass. Again, wow, just Wow!

 

Spray the lime juice all over and it’s just FABULOUS!