Thanks for spreading awareness of Lao food!! I went to a “Thai” restaurant yesterday that had a whole specialty section that listed all Lao food, and when I saw on their menu they named Thum Mak Hoong to Som Tum Lao, my Lao heart broke a bit 💔
I had Thai and Laos papaya salad but Laos papaya salad takes you to a whole new level of flavor lol. I miss Laos papaya salad when I lived in Vegas and Cali but here in Texas is so hard to find Laos condiments like crab paste, shrimp paste and most of all Padaek. I can make the Thai which is just plain fish sauce chili’s and lime. Mostly here in Texas is Chinese, Japanese, Filipino and Korean (mostly Korean). Hopefully when the pandemic is over I can finally ask friends to send me stuff or visit Vegas and stock up lol.
So every time I eat papaya salad with sticky rice or white rice and say a protein, the next morning when I do my business I do take a really good number 2. It seems the papain and the papaya itself which is high in fiber help clear out a lot of the stuff.
@@SaengsKitchen btw you here in USA ? Because i have to drive 3 hours to Naples to have some real Lao food ! Is hard for me to find the ingredients for pok pok in soflo
The thing is, most Thum Mak Hoong that is eaten outside of Laos is eaten by Thais where it's known as Som Tam Lao. The Som Tam most foriegners like is Som Tam Thai (Tam Thai), most foriegners don't like the fermented fish in the Lao/Isaan dish.
When I was a immigrant Lao kid in the Midwest of the US, I used to go around elementary school telling the kids who bully gentler kids that I was going to “Phuck them up” and make karate chop hand movements. 😂😂 When they ran to tell on me that I was “cussing” I would say, “in my language that means ‘chop’. So They shouldn’t bully the little kids or they are going to get chopped up!” 😏
I made this similar style and it really good for years n then one day I ate this papaya salad n it so spicy n better and for years I couldn’t figure out what they put in there that better .. 😅 found out this morning watch your video is the chilli pepper alot of it !
Do you have a recommendation for a specific brand of paste/sauce? Bc I go to the store and there's so many brands. My aunties and my mom have a preference but they always tell me "the whole with the yellow label". They basically don't describe it well enough 😂
I absolutely loved this video !!! My dad and aunts (cousins) make some good tom mak hoong. I wonder if they use the crab paste. I know we use the pa dak and everything else you used but I'm not sure about the crab paste 🤔 I might have to try. Gonna make some soon to show my brother how to make it.
Ok every crab and shrimp paste I have found at the Asian markets have been red, I cannot find the black pastes. Are these frozen ones or maybe I'm not getting the right kind.
I don’t have room in my apartment for all of the ingredients 😢 does anyone have a favorite pre made papaya salad sauce? A pic would be greatly appreciated!
Hi, just found your channel and seeing all these Lao recipes brings a slew of nostalgia for me. :) A question about this recipe; how would you suggest adapting it from someone with shellfish allergies?
Oh my gosh I started laughing my ass off when you said "fresh padek from under the sink" because that's where I get all my padek too 😂 I was also hoping you'd show us how to make padek because that's one of the only ingredients I can't ever get a hold of when I'm not at home. Hope you make a video about that sometime!
This is the 5th video that I've watched from you since subscribing yesterday. I really enjoy your thorough and thoughtful descriptions and fun facts! I know this is super simple for you but can u make a quick video on the best way you make your sticky rice? Is there a way to make it in the rice cooker as well?
Arent several of these sauces the same? Is fish sauce, crab sauce and padaek not the same? Sorry lol I’m learning to cook Lao dishes for my husband and I’m so lost 😭
I agree with you , nobody has a video just explaining all these ingredients in English , just the basics , how are they different, which are most similar , which do people sub out , what other recipes would you use naam pu or field crab paste , i only see three ....... Normally listed on the net crab paste dipping sauce , lap papaya salad , pomelo salad Why only these three ? I would assume people in the north would always use crab paste and almost never shrimp paste, where as people on the coast would be opposite etc. But in these internet recipes they always use 4-5 fermented ingredients , that's too much for me , too much sauce , i use pla ra and crab paste only
