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Nam Khao (Crispy Rice Salad)
Nam Khao (Crispy Rice Salad)
Nam khao is a Laotian salad with roots in Thai and Vietnamese cuisine. The Thai influence stem from the ingredients used to make the crispy rice balls, dressing, and toasted rice powder. The Vietnamese influence comes from the salad toppings such as the mint, basil, and cilantro. This salad has just about every flavor and texture you can imagine; all perfectly balanced. Nam khao is definitely an advanced recipe; with the crispy rice balls taking the brunt of the endless prep work to it’s completion. It will be all worth it in the end. So puff, puff, puff; don’t bother passing; puff a few more times; take a deep breath, and get ready to cook.
Servings: 2
Equipment
- sticky rice bamboo steamer
- cookie dropper scooper
Ingredients
Crispy Rice
- 3 cups glutenous rice
- 3 tbsp red curry paste
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1 shallot finely chopped
- 4 lime leaves finely chopped
- 4 tsp fish sauce
- 4 tsp sugar
- 1 large egg beaten
- vegetable oil for frying
- spinach/arugula mix
Nuac Chom Dressing
- 1/3 cup warm water
- 2 1/2 tbsp sugar
- 2 tbsp fish sauce
- 1/2 lime juiced
- 1 1/2 tbsp rice vinegar
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1 red Thai chili finely chopped
Salad Toppings
- som moo (Laotian fermented sausage)
- mint
- basil
- cilantro
- toasted peanuts
- toasted rice powder
- green onions
Instructions
- Soak the rice for a minimum of 4 hours.
- Place the rice in a bamboo steamer basket in a pot of boiling water. Place a cover over the top.
- Steam the rice for 30 minutes, flipping half way through the cooking process.
- Mix in the rest of the crispy rice ingredients.
- Heat up 2” of cooking oil in a pot over medium high heat. Using a cookie dropper scoop, drop round balls of the rice into the oil, making sure to not overcrowd the pot. Fry the rice balls for 3-4 minutes.
- Drain the grease from the rice balls on paper towels.
- Mix together all of the dressing ingredients.
- Prep all of the other topping ingredients.
- Break up the crispy rice balls. Toss them with the som moo, mint, basil, cilantro, toasted peanuts, green onions, and the dressing.
- Place the spinach/arugula mix in the bottom of a bowl.
- Place the crispy rice salad on top of the spinach/arugula. Dust the top with toasted rice powder.
Tom Khem
Tom Khem
Most countries throughout Eastern and Southeastern Asia have their version of pork simmered in a sugary soy based sauce with hard boiled eggs. China has dong po; Taiwan has lu rou fan; Thailand has stewed pork belly with eggs; and Vietnam with pork braised in coconut water with eggs. Tom khem is another version of this classic dish from Laos. What differentiates tom khem from others is the how sweet it is. Drastically more sweet. Like, you can’t eat this if you’re a diabetic. There is also slices of ginger and galangal in the braise, which none of the other versions have.
Ingredients
- 3 lbs pork shoulder or pork belly cubed
- 1 1/2” ginger thinly sliced
- 1 1/2” galangal thinly sliced
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- 3 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 tbsp light soy sauce
- 3 tsp dark soy sauce
- 4 cups water
- 4-6 hard boiled eggs
Garnish
- green onions chopped
Instructions
- Add the sugar to a cold Dutch oven.
- Turn the heat to medium low and slowly caramelize the sugar. This will take at least 5 minutes.
- Add in the ginger, galangal, and garlic. Cook until fragrant; about 2 minutes.
- Turn the heat to medium high. Stir in the pork, salt, pepper, fish sauce, and soy sauces. Brown the pork for 10 minutes.
- Pour in the water. Bring to a boil. Cover. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for an hour.
- Add in the hard boiled eggs. Continue simmering uncovered for 30 minutes.
Sayadieh
Sayadieh
Sayadieh is simply fish and rice. This Lebanese dish is very easy to make as well as being fairly healthy. The rice contains a large amount of caramelized onions with flavors such as turmeric, coriander, cinnamon, and ginger. The fish is rubbed with olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper, and baked in the oven. I used tilapia, but you can use any type of firm fleshed white fish such as cod, haddock, pollock, etc.
Ingredients
Rice
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 large onion diced
- 2 cups basmati rice washed
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1/2 tsp ground coriander
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground ginger
- 4 cups water
- 1/2 cup slivered almonds
Fish
- 2 large tilapia fillets or 4 small
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
Garnish
- parsley chopped
Instructions
- Heat up cooking oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Sauté the onions for 15 minutes until they are cooked down and browned.
- Stir in the rice and all of the seasonings. Sauté for 5 minutes.
- Pour in the water. Bring to a boil. Cover. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for 15 minutes.
- While the rice is cooking, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Rub the fish fillets with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Place the fillets on a rack on a baking sheet lined in foil.
- Bake the fish for 15 minutes. Let the fish rest for 5 minutes before serving.
- Dry toast the slivered almonds for 2 minutes over medium heat.
- Stir the toasted almonds the last minute of cooking.
