[dropcap]A[/dropcap] few months ago, I contacted some Lao cooks, chefs, restaurant owners and writers from around the world and asked them to participate in a short and simple Lao food survey. I emailed them and asked them to list what they consider to be their top 10 essential Lao cooking ingredients. 1
This survey was intended to be fun and light-hearted one. The data in the table below is by no means definitive nor conclusive and as a result should not be treated or used as such. In retrospect, the survey question was too broad and thus open to interpretation which resulted in some of the answers being difficult tally. 2
While this survey is not faultless, I think that the data in the table are useful and provide some food for thought. The table provides a good idea and starting point in knowing what some Lao cooks and chefs consider to be some essential Lao cooking ingredients. 3
Even though the survey question asks for top 10 essential Lao cooking ingredients, I think it is wiser and more beneficial to view and acknowledge all of the answers/ingredients that the participants provided and not just the top 10 ingredients in the table. This will give us a better understanding and overview of other ingredients that Lao cooks and chefs consider important in Lao cuisine.
Note: In the table, both Lemongrass (hua sing kai) and Fish sauce (nam pa) have 36 votes each and are equal 4th, and both Coriander/Cilantro and Lemon/Lime have 18 votes each and are equal 9th. Lao cuisine is distinctive and diverse and so are the ingredients used in its preparation. I hope that this table provides you with some insight and appreciation for some of the more popular ingredients used to create Lao food.
Participants in this survey are:
Natacha (Author of Ant Egg Soup, and blogger at Devonium)
Chandara (Food stylist and photographer at Chandara Creative)
Seng (Chef and owner of Bangkok Golden)
Toy (Home cook at Lao Food In Cork)
Caroline (Owner of Tamarind)
Cindy (Travel writer and photographer at So Many Miles)
Nye (Photographer and blogger at Nye Noona)
Manivan (Author and blogger at Laprom)
Nana (Lao cook at Cooking with Nana)
Ping (Blogger at Living This Life)
Additional Participants:
Sydaney (Analyst and blogger at So Syd Says) (added on 04/07/14)
Chris Sananikone (Blogger at Lao Haus) (added on 18/07/15)
Essential Lao cooking ingredients
| Ingredients | Votes |
|---|---|
| Chili pepper (mark phet/mark pik) | 81 |
| Lao fish sauce (padaek) | 79 |
| Fish sauce (nam pa) | 49 |
| Garlic | 46 |
| Ground roasted rice powder (khao kua) | 41 |
| Lemongrass (hua sing kai) | 43 |
| Sticky rice (khao neow) | 38 |
| Galangal (ka) | 33 |
| Kaffir lime leaves (bai ki hood) | 31 |
| Lemon/Lime (mark now) | 26 |
| Coriander/Cilantro (puck hom pom) | 22 |
| Salt (gur) | 14 |
| Fresh herbs ( coriander, fresh mint, dill, etc) | 10 |
| Ant eggs (kai moot) | 10 |
| Fish and meat | 10 |
| Ginger (khing) | 10 |
| Tamarind (mark karm) | 9 |
| Home made river fish/pork/chicken stock | 9 |
| Shallots | 15 |
| New sticky rice | 8 |
| Green papaya (mark hoong) | 7 |
| Eggplant | 6 |
| Bamboo shoot (nor mai) | 6 |
| Oyster sauce | 5 |
| Root/vine used in "or lam" | 5 |
| Spring Onion and shallots | 6 |
| Leafy greens (such as morning glory or salad leaves) | 4 |
| River weed | 4 |
| Banana flower | 3 |
| Basil | 3 |
| Sugar | 3 |
| Dill | 2 |
| Rattan | 2 |
| Mint (puck hom larb) | 8 |
| MSG | 1 |
| Buffalo skin | 1 |
| Coconut | 1 |
| Cucumber | 1 |
| Chili powder | 1 |
| Soy sauce | 0 |
| White pepper | 0 |
| Egg | 0 |
| Tomato | 0 |
| Black pepper | 0 |
Notes:
- Basically, I searched Google, Twitter and Facebook for people worldwide associated with Lao food, including Lao cooks, chefs, restaurant owners and writers. I emailed about 30 people and asked them to list their top 10 essential Lao cooking ingredients. Out of the 30 people I contacted, 10 people replied and their answers are tallied in the table below. In the email that I sent to the participants, I asked them to list the ingredients in order of importance with #1 being most important, #2 second most important, etc. When I tallied the answers, I gave the #1 ingredient a value of 10 votes, #2 ingredient a value of 9 votes, etc. The votes in the above table is the total of all of the participants’ answers. Thus, the more votes the ingredients have, the more important the ingredient is regarded by the participants in the survey. Please don’t be offended if I did not contact you to participate in the survey. The reason is simply because I could not find you or a way of contacting you in my search. If you’re a Lao cook or chef and would like to participate and contribute to this survey, please feel free to contact me or leave a comment below with your specific top 10 essential Lao cooking ingredients, and I’ll add it to the table. Korp jai der! ↩
- I encountered several issues in this survey. Initially, I thought the openness of the question, ‘What do you consider to be the top 10 essential Lao cooking ingredients?’ would allow the participants to interpret and answer the question freely. Unfortunately, the term ‘ingredients’ is too broad and can range from herbs/spices to meat/protein. Hence, to list just 10 ingredients is both restricting and challenging. Consequently, some of the participants listed more than one ingredient as “one ingredient”, for example, ‘lemon & lime’, ‘dried/ground & fresh chili’, ‘spring onion & shallot’, ‘leafy greens’, ‘ginger & galangal roots’, ‘fresh herbs’ and ‘fish & meat’. This made it difficult for me to tally their answers and I just left these answers as they are in the table. To simplify the survey and for the record, I combined ‘brown sugar’ with ‘sugar’ to create one ingredient, and I separated the answer ‘ginger & galangal roots’ (4 votes) into 2 votes each and added them individually to the table. ↩
- I would like to say thank you to all the participants involved in this survey. I really appreciate you taking the time to reply back to my email. As much as I appreciate the time and effort of all the participants involved in this survey, I would like to stress that the results in this survey is based on the opinions of only 10 participants, hence it should not be taken as definitive. If more participants were involved, the results will be different and there will most likely be other ingredients listed in the table as well. I think that the results in this survey are useful and can provide the basis for a more in-depth/controlled survey in the future, for example, participants are asked to choose (a number of ingredients) from a list of determined ingredients what they consider to be the most essential Lao cooking ingredients. ↩
I’m not surprised that padaek is on the top list, and from looking at the top 10 ingredients I would say that these ingredients would make a very spicy Lao dish. :)
Hi Nye, Thanks for your comment and participation in the survey. There’s a lot of writing on the importance of padaek/padek in Lao food so I was expecting it to be in the top list. Yes, those top ten ingredients would make a very awesome and tasty Lao dish. What a clever idea! I’ll start thinking of a dish that can be made from those ingredients and more. Thanks Nye.
Such a delicious list of ingredients!! Now I want to eat something with them in it :)
Thanks for sharing
Julie
Gourmet Getaways
Hi Julie, The ingredients do sound interesting and delicious, especially the more unusual ones including ant eggs, river weed, banana flower and rattan. More delicious and comforting Lao recipes perfect for the current cold weather are on their way. Thanks for your comment.
And the winner is padaek! lol
Hi Helen. Yes, padaek made #1 in the list but the survey is based on only 10 participants, and the results/top 10 list would most likely be different if more participants were involved. Padaek is a much loved and essential ingredient in Lao food so it was expected to be at the top, likewise sticky rice.
Wow – you’ve reignited memories of a wonderful, and food-filled – Laotian trip a few years ago. I must get those recipes out! Thanks for sharing.
Hello thefoodsage, I’m glad the post/survey brought back some good memories of Laos and Lao food for you. Those recipes sound fab! Would love to see what you do with them. Best wishes!
what a great survey. I use a lot of lemongrass and less fish sauce so my list would be a bit different :)
Hi Tandy, Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment. I love lemongrass and find fish sauce very tasty and addictive. Do you cook much Lao food? I’m glad that I found your blog. You have many wonderful recipes, including the current haggis. Yum!
This is awesome! Can I join in on the fun?
My top 10:
1. Padaek
2. Chili Pepper
3. Fish Sauce
4. Mint
5. Shallot
6. Garlic
7. Cilantro
8. Lemon Grass
9. Lime
10. Scallions
Ingredients I feel are missing from the comprehensive list:
1. Soy Sauce (specifically Golden Mountain Seasoning Sauce)
2. White Pepper
3. Egg
4. Tomato
5. Black Pepper
Hi Chris,
Thanks for your comment and contributing to the survey. I’ve added your answers to the table and it now reflects this. I’ve added your answer ‘Scallions’ to ‘Spring Onion and shallots’. I agree about your extra five ingredients and have included them to the list. Korp jai der!