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NAMGNUM DAMP FISH FOOD
"Fish salad,
Fish soup and steamed fish
If these above food are not delicious, it must be depended on
the skill of the cooks or the consumerrs don't know how to eat !"
After the Namgnum damp was newly constructed, Vientiane people said
that the fish from Namgnum are not so delicious, (Lao people prefer to
eat fish, so they know well that where the fish caught from, are
delicious). But at the present time, all accept that namgnum fish are
delicious not less than the other sources. Fish from Namgnum are daily
sent to sell in Vientiane. The fishmen catch them and sell to the
merchants in the morning. The fish catching area is far from the port
of Namgnum for some kilometers. The merchants use the ice to keep the
fish before going to the markets. It takes 2-3 hours to take them to
Namgnum port, then sent them to the Vientiane markets by containers.
The fish reach Vientiane markets in the afternoon and it is not so
fresh, and delicious. To have the fresh ones, people should go to
Namgnum in the holidays. there are many tourists and sometimes the
parking area is full.
To touch the almosphere of the air in the lake called Geneva sea to
Asian, to see the lives of the fishermen. After we departed from
Vangvieng, we spent a night in Namgnum guesthouse. Previously, there
were not available guest house, but today there are enough rooms for
accommadations. In that evening, we entered to one of the restaurant
located on the shore, in fact there are many restaurants and some are
on the floating boats. Before there were one big boat restuarant but
now it is out of business since the boat is very old.
We did not order the food in advance, so the beautiful waitress showed
us the menu. Siri ordered Giant fish salad, while P.Phouangsaba
ordered grilled fish and Thanong sack Vongsackda ordered the cat fish
soup and roated fish and tomatoes sauce. Seeing many types of
vegetables, species mixing with fish salad made the saliva dropping,
eating the sticky rice and Lao beers. All said it was so delicious.
Fish meat made us to be healtheir, pleasent and good hearts. The
beautiful waitresses are waiting to serve the hard drinks. Siri
Sayaseng told us that there are many kind of Lao food, but there is no
need to order to many types at the same time. If we order so, we do
not know which type is the best fish food.
Along the way back to the guesthouse, we bought some of banana, each
bunch costed 5,000 to 7,000 kips. We spent the night by listening to
the waves and seeing the light of the stars brithtening on the surface
of the river and the light of the people to collect the fish far away
from the small islands. These made us to think about the path of lives
and sleep under the nature. This is the special happy life that it can
not be arranged easily. Earlier, the next morning we toured by boat to
admire the water nature and to see the fishmen catching fish. Along
the river we also see the birds flying over the sky. They also hunt
for fish like the fish men.
DRINKING LAO HAI
Reception ceremony
organized at the house of the chief of the village. It is the two
floors and surrounded with the fruits trees. Young and old women
dresswd in green, red costumes traditionally identifying the origin of
Thai Theng or Thai Daeng, but their men only their native tongues can
be proved as their origin. The mats, the pot of the herbs boiled water
and plates of bunches of banana are placed. The jars of alcohol placed
in the corner of the house. Nong-Or is a village of Thai Theng or Thai
Daeng, original from Houaphan Thang Hoa and thang Hok, Theng district
and Thanh Hoa province in the north of Vietnam (Dien Bien Fu, Thanh
Hoa) in the present time.
Mr. Mai Hom, chief of Nong-Or village told us that his villagers moved
in here for 200 years ago. This village comprised 95 families, devised
into two groups : one for the north and other for the south. Both are
located along the road No.8A and 17 km. east of Lak Xao, the Khamkeut
administration office.
THAI DAENG AND LAO
HAI
Lao Hai (the
jars of alcohol) are not only used as the custom or tradition but they
use it for worship the ghost, families rites or traditional festival.
Lao Hai and boiled chicken are the main components for any ceremonies.
Therefore Thai Daeng had to prepare alcohol for the whole year. I am a
writer whose blood mixed with alcohol, got the better chance to enjoy
the drink wit- h Thai Deang girls. To drink they used the horn of the
buffalo to measure how much water sho- uld be used. It is called Sanai.
How much one can drink?The more you drink, the more fun you will see.
The alcohol kept in the jar is very tasteful and nice smell. Some
drinkers prefer the atmosphere around the jar of alcohol than its
taste.
Miss Chai and Miss Hang, the great drinkers, they drink without
speaking and drink until their cheeks become red.
Oh Ho! Add more water it's very tasteful. Both guests and hosts made
turns to drink. The drinker took the bamboo pipe, stuck it to the
bottom of the jar to find the tastiest and sweetest portion of the jar
while the eyes are searching over the red cheeks. Thai Daeng alcohol
are tasty to the tongue as the explanation of the chief of the village
mentioned that Bane Nong-Or has 95 families and all families produced
the jars alcohol. To certify his propaganda words, he also told us on
how to make alcohol without knowing that I am going to sale his method
for alcohol making or to produce it for my own consumption.
HOW TO MAKE THE
ALCOHOL POWDER
- Soak rice for one
night
- Clean, mill, then screen the soaked rice as the powder
- Mix the powder with Kha water (To make Kha water, first cut Kha into
small pieces, mill amd take only its water.
- Make the lumps.
- Dry the lumps in Kadong the rice winnovining basket covered them by
the brans.
- Use the hey to cover the kadong and keep it in the ceiling of the
kitchen to dry with the fire smoke for 5 to 7 days.
- After it become dry, take the bran and the hey out and keep in the
ceiling until we want to used it.
HOW TO MAKE THE
ALCOHOL
- Put the bran into
the pot as full pot and take the bran out and clean
- Soak rice for 1 night then wash
- Mix soaked rice and the bran in Kadong, a bamboo plate.
- Steam them.
- Take them out and let them cold.
- Take the alcohol powder from the ceiling and mill and mix rice with
bran and place to the wind to make it cold.
- Cut the banana leaves to cover Kadong, rice, bran, alcohol powder
for 1 night.
- Then the powder will be hot, the alcohol become as alcohol and take
the banana leaves out to let it cold.
- Put them into the jar, place the banana leaves as the first layer
and bran as the second as ashes as the third.
- Keep the small jar for 1 to 3 nights.
- Keep the big jar for 10 to 15 nights before drinking.
ATTENTION :
The longer times we
keep it, the better taste will be. The one who never drinks the jar
alcohol conserved for one year will be the person who never understand
about its real taste. The one who do not know its real taste of
alcohol will be the person who do not know the meaning of the smile of
Thai Daeng girls who are sitting on knees and drinking with you, It is
an common thing.
STICK RICE AND
PADECK
Living
in houses on stilts, playing the Khene and eat sticky rice tith Padeck
are the main characteristics of Lao People.
The World offers a wide variety of cuisines. When preparing a meal,
one does not only want to cease hunger but also seeks good taste at
low cost. The preparation of a meal is vary important and so are the
ingredients. Sticky rice and Pradeck have been rooted in Lao
traditional cuisine since the early periods.
Souligna Vongsa who united the LaneXang Kingdom from 1673 to 1694 made
the distinction between the Lao and Vietnamese people as such. The
people living in house on stilts and who eat sticky rice and Pradeck
are Lao. those living in houses built on the ground who use chop
sticks and wear large pants are the Vietnamese. Most Lao eat sticky
rice. After being steamed, the rice is kept in a basket called Tipkao
or Kongkao in various areas. This basket is hand woven bamboo strips
and comes in different colors, sizes and shapes.
Sticky rice can be prepared in different ways, such as Kaomao kaohang,
Kaonung and Bamboo steamed. Kaobeua is a base to prepare bamboo shoots
soup, Kaokua is used to add flavour to Lab or Koy, the Lao traditional
meat salad. These various ways of using sticky rice adds flavour and
aroma to dishes and one could not obtain same results by substituting
with other type of rice or wheat. Another kind of sticky rice is
Kaokam and it is distinctive by its black color. Kaomao and Kaohang,
described above, have a sweeter flavour and are used during Buddhist
ceremonies and durind Buddhist lent. During the harvesting period, we
have Kaomai, Paman, which are a newly harvested rice that is eaten
with fatty fish.
Padeck is a distinctive and unique Lao traditional food. Its quality
will reflect the talent of the cook or the housewife. It is a mixture
of fish and salt that is marinated and preserved in a jar for a
minimum of a year, up tp 3 years. Indeed, the older it is conserved
the stronger the taste. And. one could not tell its existence in a
dish, it will just add more flavor and aroma to most dishes. Have
sticky rice with a dish with good padeck makes a noted difference in
taste! |
Information provided by Laos National Tourism Authority.
