LUANG PRABANG, LAOS
I hope everyone is having a relaxing weekend. We have been in Laos for about a week, and despite a minor bout of food poisoning that struck me yesterday, we have really been loving it here. Ben has been force-feeding me electrolytes, tea, activated charcoal, and rice and my appetite is slowly returning 36 hours later. It might not be as humid as other parts of SEA, but it is definitely warm here with temperatures ranging from highs of 98 last week and allegedly 105 and above next week. The people are very nice, the town does cater to tourists, but is still very much laid back. Our house - which is very cozy and relaxing - sits above a smaller river called the Nam Khan, and we are roughly a 20-25 minute walk from the Mekong and the interior of the city of Luang Prabang. Interestingly, out of everywhere we have been in SEA, the produce here is definitely the best. It looks and tastes fresh. One thing we have run into other places is the relatively lackluster flavor of vegetables - but, we maybe have only ourselves to thank for that, on account of the US completely saturating all land with Agent Orange. Meat here in SEA is more expensive, so our diet overall has been a majority of vegetables, carbs, and eggs. We are assuming our diets might be more meat-heavy in Morocco so we are not concerned or feeling like we are missing anything. The price of food at markets here is still comparable to say Vietnam, where we can buy 1-2 days worth of food for around $4.
Our hosts are great - Somsack is a chef and he is going to take us to the market a cook with us one day. He brought Ben over some sandwiches for dinner, and we plan to eat at his restaurant in town one night. He described Laos cooking as fresh, and that a lot of the flavor hinges on adding herbs and spices at the right time, and then consuming immediately. Not a bad philosophy.
For my birthday, Ben had arranged for a private cooking class here, which we did on Thursday. Two sisters run a cooking school and a restaurant here in town. We started with a market tour with one of the sisters, which was very informative and we were able to ask questions about what previously unidentifiable things were. And yes, I did see dried/fried rats on a stick and no, I did not freak out. It was a different experience, but we have only seen them that once. The recent NYTimes article on Laos mentioned it, so naturally, I had been very alert. Anyway, getting past that, our guide told us about some of the ingredients we would be cooking with, which are intrinsic to Laos cooking. In addition to having Lao basil, thai basil, lemongrass, ginger, peppermint, spearmint, and tamarind, we learned about galangal (similar looking to ginger, but very different flavor), chili wood (a spicy wood that is not edible, but flavors soups and stews), various types of sticky rice, banana flowers, riverweed, and buffalo.
The cooking class was located outside of the city, on their newly built organic farm. The other sister Linda and her staff walked us through cooking sticky rice and preparing the dishes we had selected which were:
Papaya salad
Chicken lap (or larb, also called chicken salad here - ground chicken with minced banana flour, mint, chilis, spices)
Luang Prabang Pork Stew (which we thickened with ground sticky rice and mashed eggplant; also added the chili wood for flavor)
Carp steamed in banana leaves (with spices, kaffir lime leaves, and coconut cream)
Banana and pineapple simmered in coconut cream for dessert (toasted sesame seeds add a nice crunch) and mango sticky rice for dessert
Also, Laos' signature alcohol, which is fermented sticky rice, made an appearance. We chatted with the uncle of the sister's who also used to be a chef in Luang Prabang, and he sent us home with a bunch of fresh morning glory, lettuce, and mint from their gardens. Definitely learned alot and had a excellent time. I think our favorite dish was the Pork Stew, although everything was delicious.
After an exciting diet of bananas, rice, and 1 egg, I hope to be back in action and feeling better tomorrow.
