Lao

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Khai Phaen (Fried Mekong River Weed Sheets)

A Lao drinking snack: freshwater algae lifted from the Mekong, spread thin with seasonings, dried into sheets and fried for a few seconds. A sheet holds together the way paper does: wet fibres laid out thin bond to each other as the water leaves. No paste or starch goes in; the drying is the gluing.

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Nam Khao (Crispy Rice Salad with Fermented Pork)

The Lao salad in which cooked rice is mixed with curry paste and egg, packed into balls, deep fried, and then broken up by hand into fermented pork and herbs. An arancino is fried so that its shell will hold the inside in; this is fried in order to be broken. A ball has the least surface for its volume and frying only ever reaches the surface, so a whole one is a single thin crust around plain rice. Crushing it turns that one crust into dozens of crisp shards and opens all of the soft rice inside to the dressing.

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Laap (Minced Meat Salad with Toasted Rice)

Laos's national dish: minced meat cooked without liquid, dressed with lime, fish sauce and herbs, and bound with toasted ground sticky rice. Without the toasted rice — khao khua — it is not laap, and the dressing and herbs go in only after the pan is off the heat.