RECIPES OF LAOS

Ingredients

4 tbsp

2 meters

1 stalk

2– 3 small

4 leaves

3–4 cups

1 tsp

1/4 cube

8 pieces

8 small round

30– 40 cm

1-2

1 large

handful

1/2

Cooked sticky rice (flattened to 1 cm thick)

Long beans (cut in 5 cm bits)

Lemon grass (bruised)

Sprigs dill

Saw tooth herb (stinkweed)

Water for stock

Salt

Knorr chicken bouillon  (or 1 cube Maggi chicken stock)

Sakhan (genus piper) (each approx. 3 cm by 1 cm)

Eggplants (destalked and cut in half vertically from the top)

Rattan shoot cut in 3–4 cm pieces

Fresh chillies (4 cm long)

Sprig holy basil (leaves only)

New pumpkin shoots (small)

Chicken breast (or other parts) (skinned, boned and flattened)

1. Grill the flattened sticky rice and chicken over a low flame until the rice is dry and partly brown and chicken just cooked and allow them to cool
2. Put 3–4 cups of water in a saucepan, add the salt and crumbled stock cube and bring to the boil on a low heat
3. Wash and prepare vegetables and herbs (the rest of the ingredients) and put in a bowl of cold water to soak
4. Break the sticky rice into 1 cm pieces and add to the simmering stock
5. Add the lemon grass, sakhan, prepared egg plants and cut up rattan and simmer for 4 minutes
6. Add chillies, and simmer for 10 minutes more
7. When soft. remove the eggplants and chillies from stew and set aside in a mortar (or food processor).
8. Cut the grilled chicken into 1.5 x 4 cm  pieces, and add to the simmering stew together with the holy basil
9. Pulp the eggplants and chillies using a pestle and mortar (or food processor)
10. Drain and add the remaining vegetables and herbs to the stew, then add the eggplant and chilli pulp
11. Add salt to taste and serve

Note: Beef, pork, smoked or cured meats can also used instead of chicken