laocook

Like a lot of my recipes, ideas come from things that “I miss”.

I remember (back in the old days) my mother warming up some steamed rice and placing a few pieces of smoked mackerel on top. The heat of the rice would warm the smoked fish through. That resulted in smokey and fatty tasting flakes of fish, best enjoyed with some “Jeow Bong”. A remedy for a quick fix when you were hungry, or in our case, living on a tight budget.

Mackerel is much underrated. In my opinion it should get more attention on restaurant menus. It is rich in Omega-3 fatty acids which can reduce cholesterol levels, but above all, its tasty and cheap.

When we think of smoking (no, not cigarettes, pipes or weed!), there are two techniques. Hot and Cold. Not only is smoking a way of preserving foods, it also imparts a wonderful aroma and taste.

Cold smoking basically involves applying smoke to food without heat. Hot smoking, as the name suggests, involves applying smoke and heat, thereby cooking the food.

Many types of ingredients can be smoked, meats, fowl, vegetables, fish etc.. Mackerel is a great protagonist because of its oiliness.

Smoking foods at home is pretty easy, just make sure that you have enough ventilation to avoid setting off your smoke alarms!

I use rice and a few other ingredients to generate the smoke, but if you can get your hands on some wood chips, even better!.

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Get the mackerel cleaned and filleted, make sure you remove all the pin bones.

Salting the fish draws out moisture and allows the smoke to better penetrate the flesh.

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Spread some salt flakes and some sugar on a dish and place the fillets skin side down, then sprinkle some more salt flakes over the fish and allow to rest for about 5 minutes.

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Meanwhile, get your smoker ready. In this case I use a large pan lined with tin foil, this not only saves on cleaning, it also helps save the pan!

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To produce the smoke I use some uncooked rice, coriander seeds, star anis, ginger and some broken up cinnamon sticks. You could use wood chips or even tea leaves.

The pan is placed on high heat whilst I wash and pat dry the fish fillets.

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Olive oil is sprinkled on a dish and the fillets placed skin side down. This ensures that the fish doesn´t stick to the wire racks, the fish is then seasoned with a little salt and freshly milled black pepper.

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By now the rice and other ingredients are starting to release smoke. Scrunched up balls of tin foil will help support my wire racks.

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Once a good smoke is achieved, its time to lower the heat.

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The fillets are placed on to wire racks and carefully placed in the pan on top of the balls of tin foil.

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The pan is then covered with a lid. It takes about 5 to 7 minutes of gentle smoking to achive a juicy succulent fillet, which can be eaten immediatley or stored in the fridge for a few days.

On this occassion I am smoking them for a little longer because I have other uses for the mackerel.

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These fillets have been smoked for 10 minutes, which gives them a stronger smokey taste.

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Whats left behind is nice and charred. Preparing the pan lined with foil makes cleaning so much easier, and is much kinder to your pan.

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The fillets are allowed to cool then flaked.

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I wanted to make some “Rillettes”, so some finely chopped shallots and garlic are sweated in a pan with some butter. Once translucant, the mackerel flakes are added.

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After a minute or so of stirring, I added some (well, quite a bit) of butter. Once the butter had melted, I added a few spoonfuls of stock, made from the mackerel bones and some chopped fresh coriander.

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Everything is gently stirred until well combined, then removed from the pan and allowed to cool before being chilled.

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Later it is served up with some Cashew, Hibiscus and Nori Cheese with some toasts as a small starter.

It tasted so good (though I would say that!), I even caught the Service staff sneaking a few pieces…..

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I am watching you!

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From Honeybees to Pepperwood, Creative Lao Cooking with Friends is the cookbook from Makphet Restaurant in Vientiane, Laos.

I have mentioned the restaurant in a few of my previous posts because I think that it is an important place. It´s not only a place that serves good clean food, it´s also a training restaurant.

The restaurant is part of the Friends-International Peuan Mit (meaning “friends” in Lao) Project. As well as the restaurant they also have the Peuan Mit Garage. Free training is provided for young people in both these outlets and graduates are supported to find employment once they have completed their training.

The organisation also runs a mobile school which provides classes in Vientiane and its suburbs. There is also a Centre (provided by the Lao Government) which provides remedial classes, hygiene facilities, recreational workshops (art, dance, drama, sport) emergency shelter, life-skills education and counselling sessions to children and youth.

You can tell from the front cover that the contents inside will be colourful. Indeed the pages are adorned with colourful paintings and photographs.

The recipes are not just a collection of dishes from the restaurant, in fact the team led by Gustav Auer (himself also a chef, so you definitely know there’s a “labour of love” involved), travelled across Laos, from the northern tip to the southern boarders, visiting various regions and provinces to capture and record food from diverse ethnic groups.

Apart from the photographs of the dishes, there is also an array of photos from their travels through Laos depicting glorious shots of the countryside, markets and people, especially smiling happy children.

The recipes are divided in to 6 sections. there is also a short illustrated guide to herbs and spices.

The first section is about Dips, also known as “Jeow” in Lao.

No Lao meal would be complete without one form of Jeow. They must have encountered 100´s of different Jeow´s along their travels! You would have to dedicate an entire book on Laotian Dips if you wanted to present them all! (Maybe that’s not such a bad idea!).

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A recipe for one of my favourites, Jeow Bong is also included.

There is nothing better than some sticky rice and a spicy/sweet Jeow Bong. Yum!

The recipes are easy to follow and are also translated in to Lao.

Some other Jeows included in this chapter, to name a few include:

• Grilled Tomato, Garlic and Shallot Dip (Jeow Maklen)
• Grilled Eggplant Dip (Jeow Mak Keua)
• Hmong Style Wild Mushroom and Chili Dip (Jeow Hed Hmong)

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The next chapter is dedicated to Salads and Laap.

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Everyone enjoys a good Laap dish, whether its main ingredient is beef, chicken, pork or seafood. These dishes are light,  healthy and best of all, spicy and herby…

Some notable recipes included in this chapter include:

• Banana Flower Tofu and Mushroom Laap with Soy and Lime Dressing (Laap Taohou)
• Lao Famous Spicy Green Papaya Salad (Tum Mak Hoong)
• Spicy Crispy Rice Dumplings and Pork Sausage Salad with coconut (Naem Khao)
• Mekong River Fish and Banana Flower Laap with Young Galangal (Goi Pa).

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The recipe for the Tum Mak Hoong started off a very long conversation between myself and the rest of the team. It seems that “everyone´s mother” makes the “best” Papaya Salad!!!

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The next chapter looks at Soups and Curries.

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Soups remind me of the Noodles Stalls selling steaming bowls of soup, available to “eat in” or “take away” in plastic bags!

Curries remind me of good homely cooking. Slow cooking.

Some notable dishes included in this chapter are:

• Curried Fish and Coconut Soup with Rice Noodles (Mee Gah Thi)
• Luang Prabang Style Rice Noodle Soup with pork and Tomatoes (Khao Soi Luang Prabang)
• Savannakhet Style Fish Dumpling and Rice Noodle Soup (Khao Peak Pa)

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The next section gives you a 3 in 1.

Grill, Steam, Fry.

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Grilling, Steaming and Frying are the most common forms of cooking in Laos.

Grilling over an open fire fuelled by wood or charcoal releases wonderful aromas. Steaming offers a healthy variety of possibilities, especially fish and vegetables. Frying, either by Wok or Deep Frying offers a quick way to prepare ingredients.

Some wonderful dishes in this section include:

• Spiced Lao Pork Sausages (Sai Oua)
• Steamed Green Vegetables, Herb and Mushroom Salad with Padek and Sesame Dressing (Soup Phak)
• (the fantastically named and looking) Amok with Young Honeybee Larvae and Quail Eggs (Mok Taw On)

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Thereafter we move on to Sweets.

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Each province in Laos offers her own tempting selections.

There is a reason why this section is not entitled “Desserts”.

Sweets are enjoyed in Laos as a snack throughout the day. Lao meals are typically finished with some fresh fruit rather than a sweet dish.

Some tempting dishes in this chapter include:

• Pandan Scented Sago with Mango and Sweet Coconut Milk (Sakoo Baitoey)
• Steamed Sticky Rice Cakes with Bananas and Coconut (Khao Tom)

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The final section looks at Chilled Temptations that include some cooled drinks and cocktails that are on offer in the restaurant.

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I was going to count the number of photographs that appear in the cookbook but gave up after the Dip Section (more than 100 so far!).

The photos posted above are not so clear, the reason is my scanner is old and very slow, but believe me, the book is very vibrant!

It looks like the results of the restaurant team´s travels and hard work have paid off and the resulting book is worthy of being on the bookshelf of anyone interested in Laos, her cuisine and her people.

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Well done to Gustav and the team at Makphet Restaurant!!

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Needless to say, all proceeds from the sale of the book go back to the Friends-International Projects that help children.

Further interesting reading at Making Friends (cookbook) in Laos blog, and much better quality photos from the book at Friends Lao Cookbook Flickr Photostream.

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