🍽️ Cuisine
Lao cuisine is fresh and herbaceous—sticky rice eaten with hands, laap salad, and the essential padaek fermented fish.
Khao Niaw
Sticky Rice
Glutinous rice steamed in bamboo—eaten by hand with everything.
Ingredients: 480ml sticky (glutinous) rice, Water for soaking and steaming.
Preparation: Soak rice overnight (minimum 4 hours). After that, drain well. Steam in bamboo basket 25-30 min. Then flip halfway through. Keep in basket to stay warm. To finish, pinch into balls to eat.
💡 Never cook sticky rice in water like regular rice—it must be steamed.
Laap
Minced Meat Salad
Spicy minced meat salad with herbs and toasted rice—Laos national dish.
Ingredients: 300g pork or chicken, minced, Toasted rice powder, Fish sauce, lime juice, Chili flakes, Shallots, mint, cilantro, Scallions.
Preparation: Cook mince just until done (or leave raw for laap dip). Add fish sauce, lime, chili. Add toasted rice powder. Then fold in herbs and shallots. Serve with raw vegetables. Finally, and sticky rice.
💡 Toasted rice powder is essential—it adds nutty crunch.
Ping Kai
Grilled Chicken
Lemongrass-marinated chicken grilled over charcoal.
Ingredients: 4 chicken pieces, Lemongrass, galangal, Garlic, cilantro roots, Fish sauce, Palm sugar, Sticky rice, jaew dipping sauce.
Preparation: Pound marinade ingredients to paste. Marinate chicken 4 hours or overnight. Grill over medium coals. Then turn often, cook through. Serve with jaew dipping sauce. Last, and sticky rice.
💡 Medium heat—too hot burns outside before inside cooks.
