A (cook)book of memories

Passport & Plate - Laap

Laos | Wednesday, March 12, 2014 | 5 photos

Ingredients
• 500g meat (can be fish, chicken, pork) - diced
• 200g banana flower – diced
• ½ tbsp lemon juice (or to taste)
• ½ tbsp Chilli powder (or to taste)
• 1 tbsp Fish sauce (or to taste)
• 3 spring onions, chopped finely
• A handful of finely chopped coriander
• A handful of finely chopped mint
• 2 tbsp of sticky rice powder
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 cloves of finely chopped garlic
• Sticky rice (to serve)

 

How to prepare this recipe
1. Pour oil into frying pan and heat.
2. Put garlic into oil and heat until fragrant.
3. Add meat and cook.
4. Take the frying pan off the heat and allow contents to cool slightly.
5. Add banana flower, lemon juice, chilli powder, fish sauce, sticky rice powder, spring onion, coriander and mint. Serve with sticky rice.

Note: to prepare sticky rice, soak glutinous rice in water for several hours (or overnight). Cook using a bamboo rice basket over a steamer – cook for 15 mins, then flip it around and cook for another 15 min.

 

The story behind this recipe
On my last day working in Vientiane, Laos, my colleagues gave my husband and I a handcrafted cookbook. Inside were recipes for tom mak hung (papaya salad), kao piek (a rice noodle soup that I ate every day for lunch for 7000 kip, or 80c, per bowl), kang nor mai (bamboo soup), khai khnom (a type of egg salad) and – of course – laap. They had watched me devour their country’s cuisine with gusto during my year living there, and decided to send me back to Australia with the ability to make it for myself. I was speechless. It remains one of the best gifts I have ever received.
The laap recipe that I have submitted comes from this book, from my colleague Khambang, who often assisted me with interpreting.
Laap takes me back to Laos in one mouthful. The smell reminds me of weaving through markets, amongst the tables of bright dragonfruit and piles of fresh herbs and pungent pa dek, a fermented fish sauce; the texture reminds me of visiting remote villages, where one minute a chicken was pecking in the dust and the next every single part of him (organs and all) became laap that was shared amongst many. Even the touch is different - laap is eaten with your hands, with a generous helping of khao niew, or sticky rice. After rolling the rice into a ball with your fingers, you then pick up some laap and stuff the whole mixture into your mouth.
When I reflect on my time in Laos, I miss the people I met there, the amazing work I was doing, the cute pink scooter I drove around, walking along the banks of the Mekong river near my house at sunset. But it is the food that makes me ache to go back.