Laab, a salad of ground meat and herbs seasoned with fish sauce and lime juice, is sometimes said to be the national dish of Laos, the landlocked Southeast Asian country that borders China, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.
Lao cuisine may be similar to that of its geographic neighbors, but the fermented fish sauce, lemongrass, tiny Thai chiles, lots of lime juice and abundant use of fresh herbs set Lao cooking apart.
Atlanta-based Lao American Ilene Rouamvongsor works as a recipe developer, food stylist and food educator, and occasionally demonstrates recipes and provides samples of dishes made with seasonal ingredients, often with Lao flavors, at local farmers markets. She enjoys talking with shoppers about the dishes she makes and helping spark their curiosity. “They’ll ask, ‘What is that flavor?’ and I explain it’s fish sauce or toasted ground rice. We talk about sources and where they can find Lao food in the area.”
Credit: CHRIS HUNT
Credit: CHRIS HUNT
Rouamvongsor grew up in Burlington, North Carolina, in a household she describes as very much Southern but also very much Lao. When her Lao mother married into a Southern family, summer trips included visits to Swannanoa, North Carolina, and meals with plenty of casseroles and pimento cheese sandwiches.
She remembers realizing in middle school that what she was eating was different from what her peers ate. When she served her best friend a snack of tuna sauteed with onion and garlic and a side of sticky rice, her friend was astonished, having never eaten tuna that hadn’t been turned into a mayonnaise-based sandwich filling.
“If people thought about Asian food, they thought about Chinese food, or Japanese. That was almost 20 years ago.”
The food she ate at home was most often the food of Laos. “My grandmother took turns staying with us and then staying with my aunt. My grandmother and aunt cooked Lao food exclusively, and it’s really my comfort food,” she said. “A meal would often include grilled meats, at least two different dipping sauces, a variety of salads, and lots of herbs and greens.”
Credit: CHRIS HUNT
Credit: CHRIS HUNT
Rouamvongsor says Lao salads are a mainstay of many meals, each salad a mix of ingredients tossed in what she calls the “umami bomb” of lime juice, herbs and fish sauce, and part of a wide variety of dishes, all served family-style.
She describes the flavors of Lao food as “spicy, loud, punchy, hitting all your taste buds” with lots of sour and bitterness, but always well-balanced. “I have so much pride in my Lao culture, but since I am not fluent in the language, I feel especially connected through the cuisine. Now people seem to know more about the food of Laos, and it has always brought me great joy to educate them about Lao food and cook for them.”
RECIPES
Lao American Atlanta recipe developer and food stylist Ilene Rouamvongsor provided recipes for three traditional Lao salads just right for summer meals. Enjoy them one at a time, or serve them together. The recipes as written will be spicy. Adjust the amount of peppers to suit your taste and remove the seeds if you would like to reduce the heat.
Credit: CHRIS HUNT
Credit: CHRIS HUNT
Laab Gai (Chicken Salad)
The herbs, citrus and fish sauce provide rich, bright flavor for this salad. The ingredients include toasted sticky rice powder, which adds a nutty flavor. Look for it at a store carrying Asian groceries, or make it at home by toasting glutinous rice and grinding it with a mortar and pestle or spice grinder.
The filtered fish sauce here is the Thai or Vietnamese fish sauce found at Asian grocers and in grocery stores well-stocked with international food.
Asian grocery stores may have frozen chopped lemongrass available, and Rouamvongsor says that’s an acceptable substitute for fresh.
The salad is served by scooping the chicken mixture onto cabbage leaves.
Note: For nutritional calculations, the pinch of salt is defined as 1/16 teaspoon.
Credit: CHRIS HUNT
Credit: CHRIS HUNT
Thum Mak Tua (Long Bean Salad)
This muddled bean salad is traditionally made using a mortar and pestle. If you don’t have a mortar and pestle, put the ingredients into a large bowl and crush the ingredients for the sauce with a tool like the end of a wooden French rolling pin. Then roughly massage the beans with the dressing with your hands until the beans are lightly bruised.
Long beans are available from some local farmers and at larger markets that carry Asian groceries, where you will also find shrimp paste and padaek.
This recipe uses two kinds of fish sauce: filtered fish sauce and padaek, a traditional Lao unfiltered fish sauce made with fermented freshwater fish that is thicker and more pungent than Thai or Vietnamese fish sauces. Rouamvongsor says it is essential to the Lao flavor in this recipe. You will find it at stores that carry Asian groceries. Look for Mam New Dac Biet or Pan Lai Fish Sauce. Always shake the bottle well before measuring what you need for the recipe.
The filtered fish sauce called for in this recipe is the traditional Vietnamese or Thai fish sauce, nuoc mam or nam pla, widely available in mainstream grocery stores.
In the photo, Rouamvongsor has garnished the salad with fried pork rinds, a traditional accompaniment for any thum salad.
Credit: CHRIS HUNT
Credit: CHRIS HUNT
Yum Salat (Lao Salad with Egg Dressing)
With the inclusion of eggs, this dish can serve as a standalone dinner as well as a dish to go alongside other salads or grilled meats. The dressing can be made in a mortar and pestle or using a food processor. In the photo, Rouamvongsor has removed strips, but not all, of the cucumber peel.
The filtered fish sauce here is the Thai or Vietnamese fish sauce found at Asian grocers and in grocery stores well-stocked with international food.
Note: For nutritional calculations, the pinch of salt is defined as 1/16 teaspoon.
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