Aw Lahm (Lao Stew)

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Aw Lahm (Lao Stew)

Aw Lahm (Lao Stew) is a traditional Laotian recipe for a classic curry-like stew chicken with aubergines, saw tooth herb, long beans, and rattan shoot with pumpkin shoots in a sauce flavoured with Lao chilli wood. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Laotian version of: Lao Stew (Aw Lahm).

prep time

20 minutes

cook time

35 minutes

Total Time:

55 minutes

Serves:

Rating:

Tags : Curry Spice Recipes Chicken Recipes Bean Recipes Laos Recipes

This recipe calls for an unusual spice, sakhan. This is the stem of Lao chili wood or mai sakhaan, Piper ribesioides which has a hot, peppery and chilli flavour, with a lingering aftertaste and slightly numbing sensation to the tongue. It is commonly used in Lao cuisine both in Laos and the predominately Lao ethnic region of Northeastern Thailand. It's generally purchased raw and fresh and is split lengthways before use. When cut into fine splinters (usually no longer than an inch and a half) and added to soups or stews, the vine imparts a hot, peppery flavour with sharp chilli hints.

Ingredients:

4 tbsp cooked sticky rice flattened to 1cm (1/2 in) thick
2m length of long beans, cut into 5cm (2 in) lengths
3 small sprigs of dill
4 saw tooth herb (stinkweed) leaves
1l (4 cups) water
1 tsp sea salt
1 Maggi chicken stock cube or 1/4 Knorr chicken bouillon cube
8 pieces of sakhan, slivers of the woody stem of Piper ribesioides
8 small round aubergines (eggplants), stalks removed and cut in half vertically from the top
30-40cm piece of rattan shoot, cut into 3-4cm lenghts
2 fresh chillies (finger chillies, about 4cm long)
handful of fresh, new, pumpkin shoots
leaves from 1 large sprig of holy basil
1/2 chicken breast, skinned, de-boned and flattened

Method:

Grill the sticky rice either under a grill (broiler), on a griddle pan or on a barbecue over low heat until the rice is dry and partly brown and chicken is just cooked. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.

Pour the water into a saucepan, add the salt and crumbled stock cube and bring to a simmer over low heat.

Combine the vegetables, herbs in a bowl and pour over enough cold water to cover. Set aside to soak.

Break the cooled sticky rice into 1cm (1/2 in) pieces and add to the stock along with the lemongrass, sakja, prepared aubergines and the rattan pieces. Return to a simmer and cook for 4 minutes.

Add the chillies at this point and continue cooking for 10 minutes more.

When soft (about 15 minutes) remove the aubergines and chillies and set aside. Cut the grilled chicken into 1.5 x 4cm pieces and add to the stew along with the holy basil. Transfer the aubergines and chillies to a mortar then pound to a coarse paste.

Drain the soaked vegetables and herbs and add them to the stew, followed by the aubergine and chilli paste. Season to taste, return to a simmer and cook for a few minutes.

Serve accompanied by rice.

Note that if you can't get hold of the sakhan, you can approximate the taste and effects by combining the following in a tea infuser: 1 tsp black peppercorns, 5 Sichuan peppercorns, 1 dried red chilli, 1 celery leaf. Drop the infuser into your stew/curry at the same point as the recipe calls for the Lao chilli wood and fish out near the end of cooking.