Sticky Rice

I love Laos' sticky rice (khao niao, pronounce it the same way as Thai)!

This is the dry type rather than my usual acquaintance with the wet Chinese glutinous rice served at dim sum. The Laos' version tastes and chews like brown rice. I'm a total fan of brown rice, so Laos' version charmed me.

At the traditional Laotian dinner, the 4 Singaporeans at the table went crazy over sticky rice. We rejected the steamed white rice, ate up all the dry sticky rice in our allocated basket and ordered extra baskets. We completely busted the carb count.

The khao niao went swimmingly with chilli and a pretty good tandoori-tasting grilled fish. Again, I ignored the chicken curry. I went for the handmade fishball soup and loaded up on plenty of stir-fry cabbage. YUMMY.

I definitely prefer the cooking methods for Laotian food to Cambodian flavors. Laotian food is not as heavy handed on the salt or spices. But I'm not a fan of the Mekong fishes in either country. Same river. I'm not quite used to the powdery, mushy texture of river fish.

I spent some time talking to the elderly Laotian gentlemen seated next to me. He barely spoke English. So we switched to Thai. He fully understood what I said, but I only comprehended 50% of his replies. Haizzzzz. I wanted to find out more about traditional Laotian dishes and their names. So that, I managed to do.