Lap Lao Beef

Lap Lao is the national food dish of Laos. It is like a salad dish with meat and Thai Lao herbs tossed together. You can make Lap Chicken, fish, and shrimp. The mint and the Ground Toasted Sticky Rice are the two ingredients that must be in all lap Lao dishes.

Salad Recipe: Lap Lao Beef
1 cup thinly sliced beef that is barbecued to medium rare
¼ cup thinly sliced tripe (optional)
½ teaspoon chopped galangal
1 chili chopped
1 tablespoon chopped green onions
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
2 tablespoon chopped mint
1 kaffir lime leaf
½ teaspoon chopped lemongrass
2 -3 tablespoon fish sauce
2 -3 tablespoon squeezed lime
½ teaspoon MSG (optional)
1 tablespoon Ground Toasted Sticky Rice

Serve Lap Lao beef with sticky rice or Khao Chow which is jasmine rice . A lot of chopping is involved but the hard work is worth it. Also watch the Lap Chicken video.

Ground Toasted Sticky Rice

In order to make the Lap Lao Beef and the Lap Chicken dishes, which are the Lao national dishes, you MUST have ground toasted sticky rice. Ground toasted sticky rice is also used in the Green Mango Salad dish. Do not toast with cooked Thai Lao Sticky Rice.

Recipe for Ground Toasted Sticky Rice:
1. Toast sticky rice over medium heat in a pan.
2. Shake the pan often to prevent the rice from sticking to the pan.
3. Once the rice is toasted to dark brown, remove from heat.
4. Coarsely grind the rice using a Thai / Lao Mortar & Pestle Set or a coffee grinder.
5. Make sure the rice is coarsely and not finely grounded.

Jasmine Rice Porridge

Jasmine Rice Porridge is the Thai / Lao equivalent for comfort food. Jasmine rice porridge is traditionally served for breakfast or as an appetizer. Use leftover Khao Chow which is jasmine rice from the night before and make a delicious breakfast in the morning.

Jasmine rice porridge also seems to be the Thai / Lao remedy for those who have fallen ill. You can cook chicken pieces with the garlic and oil before adding them to the rice in order to make chicken soup. Miraculously this remedy works! This dish is the Thai and Lao version of the Asian "congee soup".

Soup Recipe: Jasmine Rice Porridge
2 cups water
1 cup cooked Thai Jasmine rice or ¼ cup uncooked rice.
1 clove garlic thinly sliced
1 tablespoon oil
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon chopped green onions and cilantro

In a pot, bring two cups of water to boil and then add cooked jasmine rice. Reduce heat to medium setting. In another pan, heat oil and add garlic and cook until dark yellow. Add crisp garlic to cooking Thai Jasmine rice. Continue cooking and stirring until the porridge resembles a thick soup. Pour into a serving bowl. Add soy sauce to the jasmine rice porridge and mix. Garnish with chopped green onion and cilantro.

If you like this, you'll love the gourmet version...Chicken Rice Noodle Porridge.

Spring Rolls made with Rice Paper

These spring roll appetizer are so easy to make and very healthy because it is not deep fried. Fill the rice paper with anything you want. Also see wet rice paper spring rolls

In my video, you’ll see that I made a vegetarian spring roll filled with lettuce, carrots, avocado, green onions, long green beans, snow peas, mint, cilantro, and baby mixed greens. Traditional spring rolls are filled with sin khao bune (vermicelli noodles), pork, herbs and banana blossoms.

Instructions on how to make Spring Rolls:
1. Place a damp cloth over a flat surface.
2. Submerge a rice paper into hot water for less than 4 seconds.
3. Place the soft rice paper on to the damp cloth
4. Fill rice paper with vegetables and arrange neatly.
5. Roll the rice paper while tucking in vegetables .
6. Fold in the sides and finish rolling.
7. Roll and complete two rotations.

lf the spring rolls are made prior to serving, place the damp cloth over the spring rolls to keep the rice paper moist. Garnish the spring roll sauce with Crushed Toasted Peanuts.

Also see the wet rice paper spring rolls, spring roll dipping sauce, the toasting peanuts, and the appetizer recipe sites.

Spring Roll Dipping Sauce

The Spring Roll Dipping Sauce recipe is a popular Thai Lao salad dressing. Because this sauce is so good, you'll want to double dip. Therefore, each person must have his own spring roll dipping sauce sprinked with crushed toasted peanuts.

Dipping Sauce Recipe: Spring Roll Dipping Sauce1/2 cup water
1/2 cup rice vinegar or juice of squeezed lime
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup fish sauce
1 garlic clove minced
1 teaspoon dried crushed chilies

In a sauce pan heat the water and vinegar to dissolve the sugar. Once sugar is dissolved, add garlic, chilies and fish sauce. Once cooled, this sauce can be stored in the refrigerator for a long time.

Also related are the Toasting Peanuts and Spring Rolls made with Rice Paper videos.

Toasting Peanuts

Toasted, Roasted Peanuts are used as garnish over salads, dipping sauces, and noodles. It adds that "bitter crunch" to your bite. I love it!

Make sure you do not purchase whole fresh peanuts; purchase whole roasted peanuts where you have to individually remove the shell and membrane. Do not roast salted peanuts--it removes the authenticity. Always garnish with crushed toasted peanuts. The only dish that could pass for using whole toasted peanuts is over pad Thai noodles.

Instructions: Toast unsalted peanuts in a shallow pan over medium heat. Often shake the pan or stir the peanuts with chopsticks. Stop toasting when 75% of the peanut surface is dark. Use a Thai / Lao Mortar & Pestle Set to crush the peanuts into separate pieces.

Also watch related videos like Spring Roll Dipping Sauce and Spring Rolls made with Rice Paper.

Hot Coffee, the Thai / Lao Way

This individually filtered coffee is commonly known as "Vietnamese Coffee". This coffee drink is mixed with a teaspoon of Sweetened Condensed Milk. The Thai / Lao coffee is commonly served hot or cold with ice.

Thailand and Laos sweeten and whitened their coffee with sweetened condensed milk instead of sugar and milk or cream.

The ice coffee is made the same way but adding ice over hot coffee.

Cooking Lao Sticky Rice

Sticky Rice is the preferred rice for Laos and northern Thailand. Sticky Rice is best serve with Classic Thai / Lao Hot Sauce and Lap Lao Beef.

You must serve at least one of the sticky rice dipping sauces when you serve sticky rice:Roasted Tomato Chili Sauce
Classic Thai / Lao Hot Sauce
Eggplant Chili Sauce
Jeow Ba Dek

Unlike Khao Chow which is jasmine rice, sticky rice is always served in a bamboo basket, as seen in the video below. It is traditionally eaten with your hands. The rice should not stick to your fingers when properly cooked. If the rice sticks to your hands, next time, reduce the cooking time because each crop of rice is different.

When purchasing sticky rice, make sure the label states "Glutinous" and that the rice is a product of Thailand.

How to cook Sticky Rice:
1. Rinse the glutinous rice several times to remove any debris.
2. Soak the rice in luke warm water for at least 4 hours or over night.
3. Pour soaked rice into a bamboo steaming basket. If there are any left over sticky rice, separate them into little pieces and dropped on top of the soaked rice. Cover the rice with a lid.
4. Add 2 inches of water into the steaming pot.
5. Place the bamboo steaming basket into the pot.
6. Once the water boils, start cooking time for 20 minutes.
7. Carefully remove the steaming basket from the pot and flip the rice.
8. Cook for another 5 minutes.
9. Mix the rice thoroughly.
10. Serve sticky rice in a bamboo basket, as seen in the picture below.

Left over sticky rice is also used in dessert recipes like sticky rice & cango and khao dome. Aso use left over sticky rice to make grilled sticky rice and egg. Mix white sticky rice with black sticky rice to make khao sung ga ya dessert which is sticky rice with coconut custard.




Coconut Custard