March 22, 2024
Ingredients
• 380 ml tin yanang extract, diluted with water to make up
• 2 cups (or 2 cups yanang juice. See yanang preparation, Ingredients, page 60.)
• ¼ C uncooked rice
• ½ small head garlic, cloves peeled and smashed
• 500 g (1 lb) sweet bamboo shoots
• 1 C pork, minced
• 2 t chicken stock powder
• 1 t salt
• 2 T coriander, finely chopped
• 2 T basil (pak i tou Lao), finely chopped soy, fish or seasoning sauce to adjust flavours
• To finish
• 2 T spring onion, deep-fried (use marketbought if available)
• 2 T coriander leaves, coarsely chopped
Method
1. Soak the rice in water to soften (about 1 – 2 hours). When the grains ‘give’ by being squished between two fingers, drain. Put the rice in a mortar and pound to a grainy powder. Set the powder aside.
2. Dry fry the minced pork a few minutes until it changes colour and texture.
3. With a pestle and mortar, pound the garlic roughly. Add the rice flour. Pound to mix.
4. Take each bamboo shoot and cut it vertically into wedges. Traditionally, Lao cooks use a needle or toothpick to tease the wedges into fine shreds the width of a matchstick. A lemon zester, grater or food processor blade will do the same job faster.
5. Put the shredded shoots into a large 30 cm (12 in) pot. Add the cooked pork, stock powder, salt and yanang juice. Mix.
6. Bring to the boil, stirring to prevent lumping. Simmer for 15 minutes. Continue stirring until any coarse bits of rice have softened and the bamboo is tender. Taste for flavour. Add fish sauce (or soy or seasoning sauce) for a more robust, salty taste. The texture should be wet, but not soupy (eg, like spaghetti in a liquid sauce).
7. Add the chopped coriander and basil. Stir to mix. Remove from heat.
8. To serve, transfer into two or more soup bowls. Sprinkle the deep-fried onion and chopped coriander garnishes over each.
Variations
• To enliven the dish, in step 5 add chopped fresh chillies or 1 teaspoon of dried chilli flakes.
Information by Food from Northern Laos (The Boat Landing Cookbook)
Video by คนบ้านนอก สตูดิโอ
