Nam Khao Laotian Crispy Rice Salad

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My goal this year is to learn Lao cuisine, it is sad that I never had the interest when my mom was still alive and now the opportunity to learn from her is lost forever.  Bo’s mom, mae Kathy is a great cook and I thought it would be a good opportunity to learn from her. I bought some of the ingredients over to her house on Saturday to made Nam Khao or Laotian Crispy Rice Salad, something that I have been wanting to learn for a while now.  I made a video and decided to mute the sound since it was noisy and she had a full house on Saturday.

She had some young coconut that she bought from the flea market that morning, and Bo helped shredded the young coconut meat.

I knew I didn’t have to bring eggs, mae Kathy has plenty from her chicken coop.  The hens lay fewer eggs during the winter months due to shorter daylight and she collects about 20 eggs per day.  The quantity more than double in the summer months.

Ingredients to make the rice balls,
Steamed jasmine rice
2 tablespoons red curry paste
1 cup grated coconut
2 cups ground pork
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
4 sliced shallots
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 stalks chopped leafy onion
Vegetable oil for deep fry

Ingredients added to cooked rice balls,
4 chopped som moo or pickled pork
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
3 tablespoons crush peanuts
dried chili peppers (optional)
chopped cilantro and leafy onion for garnish

Mae Kathy steamed the jasmine rice after I got there.  They normally eat sticky rice at home so steamed jasmine rice is not something that she would prepare all the time.  She then added the ingredients to make the rice balls.  In the below image she added 1 cup grated coconut, 2 cups ground pork, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 teaspoon salt, 2 eggs, 2 tablespoons fish sauce, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 2 stalks chopped leafy onion.

Then add 2 tablespoons red curry paste.  It is not that spicy and it’s more for the coloring.

Then mixed well.

After everything is mixed, then add sliced shallots.

I rolled the jasmine rice into rice balls about the size of a tennis ball.  Mae Kathy told me to make sure it is tight and make it slightly flat so that we wouldn’t use as much oil when deep fry. As you can see I had 2 jobs, I was the camera person shooting images and video clips, and also a helper.

I deep fried the rice balls, and only could fit 5 rice balls in at a time.

The rice balls actually tasted good as is, and the kids seemed to love them.

Mae Kathy used 4 som moo or pickled pork that I purchased from the Asian Market.  She cooked it in the microwave for 1 minute since she doesn’t like it raw.

She mixed it with the cooked rice, then add 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice and 3 tablespoons crush peanuts.

She added chopped cilantro and leafy onion for garnish and it is ready to be served with vegetables.

We had a nice visit and I’m looking forward to learning the next Lao dish from her again.