Steamed Green Beans With Sawtooth Herb and Either Ginger Or Sesame Seeds -Soop Mak Tua Nyaow

Photo: Kees Sprengers

Ingredients

250 grams (½ lb) green beans, topped and tailed; use long, string or French beans

12 cloves garlic, roasted and peeled; cook the entire head before peeling the required cloves

1 piece ginger, thumb-size, roasted and peeled (if not using sesame seeds)

3 tablespoons sesame seeds (if not using ginger)

3 tablespoons light soy sauce

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons fish sauce

2 tablespoons mint leaves, chopped

2 tablespoons sawtooth herb, chopped (or substitute coriander, see below)

2 tablespoons spring onion, white stalk and greens, finely chopped

1 tablespoon Vietnamese mint leaves, chopped

2 tablespoons small coriander plants, stalk and leaves, chopped (use only if

Preparation

Method

Slice the beans diagonally or halve them. Steam the vegetable for a few minutes until lightly cooked. Remove to a mixing bowl.

Dry roast the sesame seeds until golden. Remove them before completely browned. Set aside to cool.

Put the peeled, roasted garlic cloves and salt in a mortar. Slice the roasted ginger if using. Add to the mortar. Pound the ingredients together until well-integrated. Tip this mixture over the beans.

Add the soy and fish sauce and gently mix into the salad by hand. Add the chopped mint, sawtooth herb and coriander.

Add the dry roasted sesame seeds if using and gently mix in by hand.

Transfer the mixture to a serving dish.

Variation

Be a non-traditional hedonist and use both sesame seeds and ginger. The taste is great!

Complete your Akha experience by serving the beans with Akha pork balls, ginger chicken soup, sawtooth herb jeow and sticky rice (all in the book, Food from Northern Laos).

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About

Here’s an ethnic variation on the common Lao food, soop pak. Muang Sing villagers operating the community-based ecotourism trekking business Akha Experience taught The Boat Landing staff this recipe when they trained at the guest house in July 2005. Traditionally, this Akha salad is made with either ginger or sesame seed, but never both. Each version is delicious and great served warm or cold.

This recipe was recorded by Dorothy Culloty during her research for the cookbook "Food from Northern Laos"