DIY Noodle Soup
September 11th, 2008
Khao Pek at Namphou Cafe in Vientiane
Laos - In the U.S., you might add a dash of salt and pepper or a squeeze of ketchup, but the making of your dish is pretty much finished by the time it arrives at your table. Not so in Laos (or most of Southeast Asia), particularly when it comes to noodle soup. Every table is stocked with fish sauce, chili sauce, and sugar, at the very least, and you typically get a healthy pile of fresh herbs, which vary from place to place, but usually include basil, mint, lettuce and lime wedges, among a changing cast of green characters. Using your stock of table ingredients, you complete the dish, altering the sweet-sour-spicy-salty balance and herb ratio to your liking.
My first lunch in Vientiane was a rice noodle soup, called Khao Pek, which had hearty, round rice noodles with crisped fatty pork and wilted greens, topped with fried garlic. After that, I had bowls for breakfast, bowls for lunch, bowls by the river and bowls on the street. Some were better than others. My favorite, by far, was this morning’s breakfast at a packed hole-in-the-wall on Th Sisavangvong, next to Morning Glory Cafe, that’s only open from 7:30 a.m. – 1 p.m. Though it didn’t look like much, the soup was bright and clean, each ingredient singing through and I finished it tipping the last bit of broth into my spoon.
Rice Noodle Soup with Pork by the Namkhan River in Luang Prabang
Rice Noodle Soup in the Countryside of Luang Prabang
Rice Noodle Soup on Th Sisavangvong in Luang Prabang
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