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Northern Thai food


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I love Thailand's regional foods, and am fortunate enough to live in a part of Bangkok where there are countless isaan (NE Thai) stalls, heaps of southern Thai restaurants, and even the odd northern Thai place. The last is by far the most difficult to find, and is rarely done well. Of all of Thailand's regional cuisines, I think it's the least known and the one that travels the least. This is unfortunate as when done well, I think northern Thai food is as good as any other Thai cuisine.

My dinner tonight was northern Thai, and revolved around a few of the most famous dishes, so I thought I might post them here as sort of an intro.

I think most people are familiar with laap, but the northern version, laap khua, or "fried laap" is almost certainly not as well known:

gallery_29586_2243_60535.jpg

As the name suggests, the meat, in this case pork, is fried in oil, along with a strong curry paste. Other than ground pork, this laap always includes lots of offal, as well as skin, and the curry paste contains a particular northern Thai spice called ma khwaen that has a spicy/numbing taste not unlike Szechuan pepper. Personally I think this dish is best made with beef, and the best version I ever had was at a wedding in Pai, Mae Hong Son province--the wedding guests, and I, were shocked at the amount I ate!

Another characterstically northern dish is nam phrik num:

gallery_29586_2243_60119.jpg

This is a "dip" of roasted chillies (a particlar type of large green chili called phrik num), shallots, garlic and tomatoes all mashed together with a mortar and pestle. Depending on the chilies it can range from spicy to very, very spicy! I prefer it with a squeeze of lime.

An almost obligatory accompaniment to nam phrik num is khaeb muu, deep-fried pork crackling:

gallery_29586_2243_17463.jpg

This dish is certainly one of my guilty pleasures. Unlike Mexican pork rinds, these are not flavored other than perhaps salt, but good, fresh northern Thai pork rinds are deliciously crispy and are available with or without the layer of fat!

Another necessary accompaniment to nam phrik num are veggies:

gallery_29586_2243_38141.jpg

This is typically a combination of mostly par-boiled veggies such as snake gourd (shown above), cabbage, eggplant or greens, and maybe a fresh veggie such as crispy cucumber.

All of this is taken with glutinous, or "sticky" rice. The rice is rolled into a ball and dipped into the various dishes.

All these were bought takeaway at my local market, which is, unfortunately, generally the case with northern Thai food. Even up in Chiang Mai, there are very few sit down places where good northern Thai food is served. If you do have a chance to go up north, I would urge you to buy some food to go at one of the many evening markets, and ask your hotel restaurant if you can use their dishes in exchange for buying a few bottles of beer. At least that's what I always do!

Probably the most famous northern Thai dish of all is khao soi--a curry noodle soup that is featured on numerous branches here as well as at my blog.

I'll try to touch on some other dishes soon. In the meantime, it would be great if anybody could follow up with any experiences or questions about northern Thai food.

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II'll try to touch on some other dishes soon. In the meantime, it would be great if anybody could follow up with any experiences or questions about northern Thai food.

Wonderful timing, Austin! I have my Thai cooking books all laid out, then your thread came up! Nothing better than learning from someone of experience, and with beautiful photos. I am enjoying your blog.

Not having access to many Thai spices, is there a substitute for ma khwaen: like szechuan peppercorns?

Edited by Dejah (log)

Dejah

www.hillmanweb.com

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Great photos as usual, Austin. I may not always post, but I'm certainly enjoying your threads and look forward to more.

Any chance of a recipe/instructions for the laap khua?

Baker of "impaired" cakes...
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Saturday's neighborhood market gave me the chance to eat a couple more northern Thai dishes.

First was sai ua:

gallery_29586_2243_17250.jpg

This is a sausage that is among the most well-known northern Thai dishes. The stuff is filled with minced fresh herbs: lemongrass, chilies, kaffir lime leaf and galangal, and is laced with fatty chunks pork. It is grilled over coals, and sold by the kilo. I like to squeeze a bit of lime over it.

The other dish I had was kaeng ho:

gallery_29586_2243_43107.jpg

Not very attractive looking, I know, but delicious nonetheless. It's stir fry (although it's known as a kaeng, a curry) of various ingredients--the word ho is a northern dialect word that, if I remember correctly, means "mixed up". It always includes a curry paste, glass noodles and pickled bamboo, but beyond those can be made with any veggie or bit of leftover meat that's sitting around the kitchen. Many northern Thai dishes make somewhat unusual use of noodles and are often earthy in both their flavor and color. Kaeng ho is a good illustration of this.

I think I have a recipe for laap khua sitting around somewhere that I can translate for you guys, but I should warn you that if you can't get your hands on ma khwaen, then I wouldn't even bother. This spice essentially IS laap khua. In Thompson's Thai Food he includes a recipe for laap khua and suggests using Szechuan pepper as a substitute, but personally I don't think this is a good idea. Ma khwaen is somewhat spicy and numbing, like Szechuan pepper, but has a particular fragrance suggestive of gin (at least I think so!) that is quite different.

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Saturday's neighborhood market gave me the chance to eat a couple more northern Thai dishes.

First was sai ua:

This is a sausage that is among the most well-known northern Thai dishes. The stuff is filled with minced fresh herbs: lemongrass, chilies, kaffir lime leaf and galangal, and is laced with fatty chunks pork. It is grilled over coals, and sold by the kilo. I like to squeeze a bit of lime over it.

I think I have a recipe for laap khua sitting around somewhere that I can translate for you guys, but I should warn you that if you can't get your hands on ma khwaen, then I wouldn't even bother.

I wonder if I can make pork patties or kabobs that may taste the same as the sai ua by adding the same herbs and spices? That looks so good!

I would appreciate it if you could translate the laap khua recipe. I'll be going to the big city more often now that 2 of our kids are living there. Perhaps I can find ma khwaen in one of the hidden away SE Asian stores. This is a spice? dried herb?

Dejah

www.hillmanweb.com

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Due to popular demand, I'll share the recipe for laap khua here. Unfortunately, the only one I seem to have around is for the "regular" version of northern-style laap, which is served with raw pork and pig blood! However I remember talking to a cook in an excellent laap restaurant in Pai, Mae Hong Son, and she said that the ingredients for raw and fried laap are the same--only the preparation is different.

Again, the two ingredients that are essential to making this dish, ma khwaen, a dried spice, and phak phai, a fresh herb, are hard to find even here in Bangkok, so I can't imagine you'll have too much luck elsewhere, although I could be wrong. When I get a chance I'll take photos of both of these ingredients and post them here so you can at least get an idea of what they look like. I don't really like cooking with substitutes, so I'm not sure what to suggest in place of them.

This is a translation from Thai, so forgive me if it doesn't sound "natural"!

Laap Khua

Curry paste

large dried chilies, 7

coarsely chopped galangal, 1 Tbsp

coarsely chopped garlic, 2 Tbsp

coarsely chopped shallots, 3

salt, 1 tsp

black peppercorns, 1 tsp

coriander seeds, 1 tsp

cloves, 3

cumin seeds, 1 tsp

ma khwaen, 1 tsp

Individually dry-roast each of the ingredients (except the salt) in a hot wok until fragrant, but not burned. Using a mortar and pestle, grind the roasted ingredients and salt into a fine paste. Set aside.

cooking oil, 2 Tbsp

ground pork, 250 g

pork small intestines cut in to 1/2-inch lengths, 1/2 cup

pork skin sliced thinly, 1/2 cup

pork belly (including both skin and fat) sliced into thin chunks, 1/2 cup

pork liver cut into small pieces, 1/2 cup

fish sauce, 1 Tbsp

phak phai (an aromatic fresh herb), 2 Tbsp

chopped mint, 2 Tbsp

thinly sliced green onion, 2 Tbsp

chopped coriander, 2 Tbsp

crispy fried garlic, 2 Tbsp

a couple sprigs of mint

In a wok over med-high heat, add oil, followed by curry paste mixture. Fry the curry paste, stirring constantly, until fragrant. If curry paste sticks or burns, reduce heat. Add all the meats and fry, stirring constantly to combine with the curry paste until the meats are cooked. If mixture is too dry, add water, a tablespoonful at a time. Add fish sauce and fresh herbs, stir to combine, and remove from heat. Serve laap khua, garnished with crispy fried garlic and additional mint, with sticky rice.

Edited by Austin (log)
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Sai Ua is one of my favourite Thai foods !

I believe the way I ate it in Thailand before was wrapped up in a lettuce leaf with a thin slice of raw ginger. If you then dip this in a small bowl of thai sauce (fish sauce, lime, chopped chilli and sugar) it is pure heaven !

Also, I think the distinct taste of this sausage comes from the usage of sticky rice in the filling which is allowed to 'ferment' to slightly cure the sausage with a sour taste.

I'm sure Austin can correct me if I'm wrong here :smile:

Rgds

Rick

p.s. The only way I can get these sausages now (while living in Hong Kong) is from imported frozen packs from Thailand :sad:

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Ma khwaem is simply a variety of prickly ash/Sichuan peppercorn - others can be found in Nepal, Korea, China (obviously), and on Sumatra. See this excellent source of info on spices and herbs:

http://www.uni-graz.at/~katzer/engl/Zant_pip.html

Earlier this year we spent several days wet marketing with and cooking at the house of a talented lady cook in northeastern Thailand. Ma khwaem featured in several of the dishes, usually added at the last minute so as to maintain the fragrance. I bought a pile home with me (like Sichuan pepper, it keeps well in the freezer).

In terms of appearance, it looks like a dimunitive Sichuan pepper (smaller branches, pods, and seeds). It smells like Sichuan pepper with a distinct lemony fragrance. It tastes like Sichuan pepper and lemon, without Sichuan pepper's numbing sensation.

I would consider Sichuan peppercorn a decent substitute, but you'll want to use only a quarter, or maybe even an eighth, of the amount of ma khwaem called for in Austin's recipe - what you want it the whiff of Sichuan pepper without the buzz. I'd also consider adding a bit of lemon basil for a subtle lemon flavor.

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Rick: I'm certain the sausages you're referring to are sai krok isaan, NE Thai-style sausages. They are sour, like you said, and contain lots of rice. As you mention, they are typically eaten with fresh herbs and sometimes a dipping sauce.

ecr: Thanks for the link! Where did you study cooking in Thailand? Obviously ma khwaen and Szechuan pepper are similar in form, but personally I don't find that they are similar in flavour. Again, I'm finding the scent hard to describe--it has something of a "smoky" aroma, and somehow reminds me of gin. Here are my ma khwaen:

gallery_29586_2243_57771.jpg

I reckon it's most similiar to the one on the site called chopi.

Phak phai to come soon!

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Rick: I'm certain the sausages you're referring to are sai krok isaan, NE Thai-style sausages. They are sour, like you said, and contain lots of rice. As you mention, they are typically eaten with fresh herbs and sometimes a dipping sauce.

Ahah ! Austin, I think you are right. I'm always confusing my Thai sausages. Maybe they are a seperate subject of their own as there seem to be so many !

I have a number of recipes for different ones in one of my cookbooks. If people are interested I can post...

Rgds

Rick

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Austin - Well, gin contains quite a few spices (speaking from much experience with the stuff :shock: ), so perhaps you need to sit down with a bottle and suss out the source of the ma khwaen similarity, glass by glass. :biggrin:

Seriously - juniper is a major gin ingredient. Perhaps that's the flavor you're tasting?

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