Happy Laos-Thai-Cambodian New Years!

Last week was New Years for the "dark" Asians. They do it up BIG with tents of food, music, clothing, etc etc. Everybody goes to a temple for celebration. All you need is a canopy and a seat and a table and you're set to sell. Most of the items weren't expensive. Sausages about 5 for $3 and HUGE chicken wings $2 for one. Not bad. I've always had Thai food and people always say Laos food is very similar. They are similar yet very different. It's hard to explain. They still use the same main ingredients like lemon grass, fish sauce, basil, lime and galangal which is closely related to ginger. One thing you will always get at every vendor is sticky rice. Sticky rice to a Laotian is like Naan to an Indian or Injera to an Ethiopian or Italian Bread to an Italian. They eat sticky rice with almost everything and they eat it with they fingers! Oh how I wish I had a big bowl of Laap (chopped up meat with fish sauce and lime juice and red onion and some other stuff) in front of me to eat right now as I write this...too bad I don't. But at least you get to see the pictures!

The very first tent that caught my eye was this tent that had this machine where they were feeding this plant through it. I immediately got in line to see what they were doing. Turns out they were extracting FRESH SUGAR CANE. I've only had fresh sugar cane to chew on at a kid but to see it as a drink was amazing. It was sweet and refreshing at the same time. I wish I had more with me right now!

Next I was taken to this tent where these 3 ladies were flipping little caps and cakes. They were QUICK. Pretty much they cook these little half balls of cake and when it's almost done they take 2 and stick them together to make one big ball. Coconut Cake they called it. Very mellow, just enough coconut to taste but not to overpower. This would be an awesome dessert. 

As we walk and eat I spotted from the corner of my eye this huge box of green liquid with what appears to be mangoes inside of it. From what I could taste and see they were unripened mangoes in salt water. The salt water is supposed to draw out the moisture of the mango making it hard and crunchy. Well, it was a success. The mango wasn't that unripe and it was served with this spicy salt to bring out some flavor of the mango. Every bite I took was a little sweet, salty, spicy and crunchy. Great for a hot day.

For the rest of the day we feasted on Chicken Feet, some Laap, giant chicken wings, rice cakes wrapped in banana leaf, and red bean sticky rice. What a great way to bring in the new year!

Upcoming Blogs:

- Risotto

- How to break down a bird

- Salt

bien manger

-cwis