Penang Curry Paste

For the next supper club I am doing a Thai/Lao meal.
First off I am getting the Penang curry paste done.

There are so many ingredients! And then there is the chopping, grinding and sweat (and a few tears)....

The pestle and mortar has the dry and the bowl has the wet... Now to combine and KILL!

I had to cheat a bit and whizz it in a blender for a few seconds as my mortar is a bit too small (next on the shopping list).... It tastes more or less as I expected: pungent, intense and pretty spicy. Obviously once it is fried and the rest of the bits are added it will be the real deal. To be continued.

Laos

I was in Laos for 8 days in January. Laos cuisine, whilst similar to Thai cooking is more sutble, more fragrant and has some interesting ingredients. Here a few pix to get you started

This was the first food I ate in Laos: a spicy fish and coconut soup.
It was flavoured with galangal, dill, lettuce and other herbs. Blisteringly spicy it made my eyes weep and throat rasp; in short i loved it!

This was the Phousi market in Luang Prabang

Phousi market: you can see the wide variety of leaves/herbs they have on sale!

Yours truly at the Tamarind cookery school with my "scoff":

 

stuffed lemongrass, steamed fish and a non-meat "orlaam"