• Tam maak taeng for Sunday’s snack

    Holland Cucumber was on sale at the local market last week. I bought a couple of them and made Tam Maak Taeng (Lao Spicy Cucumber Salad) for an afternoon snack on Sunday. Rather than shredding the cucumber into long thing strips like I normally do, I sliced it into thin pieces for the salad.

  • Fish Wraps for lunch

    My relatives invited me for lunch and I was treated to one of my favorite Lao Food dish, Pun Pa Nin (Fish Wraps using grilled fish). The farmed Tilapia fish was stuffed with herbs such as lemongrass, dill, galangal, and kaffir lime leaves. It was then seasoned with salt and cooked on charcoal grill. There [...]

  • Tam Mak Muang, Phak I Leut, Mak Len Mai

    When I was in Laos last year, I was introduced to Green Mango Salad with Phak I Leut and Mak Len Mai Leaf. I bought a handful of Mak Len Mai Leaf at the Morning Market in Luang Prabang and took it home to my relatives. They told me the leaf is delicious with Tam [...]

  • Young Green Mango with Chili Sauce

    Young Green Mango with Chili Dipping Sauce for an afternoon snack. I wanted to treat myself to something sour and spicy while waiting for Christmas Dinner. I had three small green mangoes left in the refrigerator and decided to make green mango snack.

  • Tum Mak Houng with BBQ Ribs

    Tum Mak Houng aka Lao Green Papaya Salad with beef barbecue ribs for lunch. I had left-over American BBQ Ribs from dinner and decided to make green papaya salad to go with the ribs with freshly cooked sticky rice. I ran out of lettuce, water spinach (pak bong) and only have Oxheart cabbage to go [...]

Delicious Things

How to Make Larb Pa Tong

I was on the phone with Aunt Phone a couple of weeks ago and she was about to make dinner. Aunt Phone just finished filleting Pa Tong (Spotted featherback, Notopterus chitala) and will be making Larb Pa Tong (Fish Tartare) in a couple of hours. I asked her to make a video recording of the [...]

Kaeng Kee Lek in Vientiane

It’s that time of the year when Bai Kee Lek (cassia leaf) is in season. Aunt Kian and Aunt Phone have been making Kaeng Kee Lek (Lao Curry) a few times for lunch and dinner last month. This version my two aunts made for lunch was with leg bones from pork rather than with ant [...]

tom khem

Tom Khem for lunch

Tom Khem (Sweet Salted Pork Stew With Hard Boiled Eggs) for lunch in Vientiane, Laos. Aunt Phone has been making many dishes using pork meat since beef prices have not gone down last month. She makes Tom Khem once a week next to Larb Moo and Kaeng Moo.

Larb Moo

Larb Moo and Kaeng Moo

Beef prices are quite high in Vientiane, Laos at the moment for the average working people. The alternative to beef for many people are pork and pork fat to feed the family. Aunt Phone loves to eat pork meat and has been making Larb Moo (Minced Pork Salad) for lunch and dinner like once a [...]

Khao Poon Nam Phik with Fish

Rice Vermicelli with Chilli Pepper Sauce

Khao Poon Nam Phik (Rice Vermicelli with Chilli Pepper Sauce) for lunch in Vientiane, Laos. Aunt Kian and Aunt Phone made the Nam Khao Poon with fish and plenty of pork blood cubes. They even had banana blossom for the herbs and vegetables part of the soup.