Yesterday I had a typical traditional everyday Lao meal called laap for lunch with my Laotian colleagues.
Laap is a very typical Lao dish.
It may be prepared from chopped pieces of pork, beef, fish or duck that is mixed with lime juice and stir-fried in fish sauce with mint, coriander, spring onion and chili.
It is also often made from raw meat or fish.
We ordered cooked duck laap (pieces of duck meat and gizzard).
Laap is usually eaten with sticky rice (khao nieow in Lao language).
Eating laap is accompanied by some raw vegetables including baby eggplant, mustard leaves, mint, basil, bird-eye chili and lettuce.
We also had fresh string beans and boiled sword beans.
The meal is also usually taken with meat soup. We ordered duck soup, boiled with tomatoes.
About 80% of rice grown in Laos is of this variety.
This rice variety naturally sticks together when steamed.
That's probably why it is called "sticky rice".
When steamed, it is easy to roll into small balls, dip into the laap sauce and eat with your fingers.
For 5 of us, this lunch costs 185,000 KIPs (USD23.00).
We had 3 plates of duck laap and 2 bowls of duck soup!
This is a very delicious but heavy lunch, especially with the slow digesting sticky rice.
I was still feeling full at dinner time.
 |
| Duck Meat Laap |
 |
| Fresh Vegetables |
 |
| String beans and steamed sword beans |
 |
| Some Chilies |
 |
| Sticky Rice (Khao Nieow) served in baskets. One basket per person. |
 |
| Rolling the sticky rice |
 |
| Duck soup |
 |
| Steaming sticky rice after it has been soaked in water for 6 to 8 hours |
No comments:
Post a Comment