Traditional Thai cuisine: recipes for a Lana style meal

Those who have already eaten Thai food will easily think of Green Curry or Pad Thai. But out of these unavoidable, what about the really traditional recipes? Here are some of them that we have had the chance to learn and cook!

A meal on the farm, true traditional Thai cuisine

Thai cuisine (Thailand) is well known and appreciated. We had the chance to discover Lana cooking, an ethnic group from northern Thailand, a few hours from Chiang Mai on the farm where we volunteered for two weeks.

On-farm meals are always presented in the same way. A large wooden table, we sit around, on small cushions. The dishes are placed in the middle of the table but not in any way. A sticky rice plate flanked by bowls of squash soup, mushrooms, herbal salad or papaya. Meals are prepared according to the day's harvest. The farm is almost self-sufficient and produces almost all of what it consumes.

The meal is a ritual and Pinan Jim, our host, always begins with a little prayer that I will retransmit to you:

Lovely Pinan, please go to the mountain. Eat a lot Sir, go for it! Namaste and have a long life! (Dear Brother, go to the mountain, eat a lot, go! Namaste and long life to you!

The explanation of prayer is simple. The dishes on the table symbolize the mountain, so it is not a question of moving the mountain by moving the bowls but rather of making the effort to go as far as the bowls. This allows you to do a little yoga by stretching your body.... The second sense is that if you want to eat, you have to move your buttocks! The food doesn't come to us, we must go and get it!!

Some Thai cooking recipes/Lana

Sticky rice

sticky rice
The sticky rice
The basis of food in Asia, rice. And when it comes to Thai cuisine, we often find a very special variety, sticky rice. It is a sticky rice that is steamed. I say sticky and not sticky! Moreover, when properly cooked, it must be firm and not pasty. It can be eaten with the fingers. We make a small dumpling of it and decorate it with other dishes. This is the basis of all meals on the farm.

Papaya Salad

Another element of Thai cuisine is papaya. It can be cooked in soup or salad.

papaya salad Thai recipe thai
papaya salad
Ingredients

1 green papaya

2 or 3 small green chilis

3 garlic cloves

2 limes

5cl soy sauce

Preparation:

Crush chili with garlic, add lime juice and soy sauce and mix. Mash the green papaya, add the sauce little by little to mix it well and you're done!

Lana Squash Soup (Squash)

Thai lana soup recipeThe pumpkin has many virtues, it is a nourishing vegetable and easy to cultivate, that we find everywhere in the World or almost everywhere. Moreover, it can be kept all winter long.

Ingredients:

1 green chili

3 garlic cloves

1 onion

1 stalk of lemongrass or some bergamot leaves

1 squash

5 cl soy sauce

Pill together chili and lemongrass/bergamot. Add garlic and onions, sauté the mixture. Peel, wash and cut the squash into large pieces and add the onion. Cover with water and cook until squash is tender, then add soy sauce. Remove pan from heat, add lemongrass or bergamot and let infuse a little before serving. The squash can also be replaced by papaya.

Jackfruit kernel purée / durian

hardened prohibition
$500 fine!!!
So, now... The Jaquier... does that ring a bell? If I tell you that the jackfruit tree looks a lot like durian... An unforgettable fruit, especially if you've already missed it... So, a little idea? Come on, I'm giving up this unbearable suspense... The durian is a fruit that, to put it simply, stinks like hell. It is even forbidden in many public places and in transport, because its smell is so horrible! As a result, it is strictly forbidden to put one in your luggage! Its companion, the jackfruit, smells a little less strong, is a little bigger and its shell is green.

Joking aside, fruit is an integral part of Thai cuisine. I really invite you to find out if you haven't already. They are found, quite rarely (and you will have understood why) in Europe. With a bit of luck, you can buy them at an Asian grocery store. The jackfish / durian, is eaten raw, cooked, and what we propose to you today, it is a crested recipe based on the pits that we find inside!

Ingredients:

Jacquier cores

chili, garlic, onion

2 cl soy sauce

Preparation

Boil the pits until they soften (a half hour or more), then peel them. Crush the stones and obtain a puree. Chill chili, garlic, onions and sauté. Add the mixture to the mashed potatoes and stir in the soy sauce.

Sticky rice with mango

sticky with mango
Sticky rice with mango
This is THE dessert emblematic of Thai cuisine!!!! Very easy to make and absolutely divine. If you don't know, to be tested urgently!!

Ingredients

250 g sticky rice sticky rice

1 beautiful ripe mango

25cl coconut milk

1 tablespoon brown sugar

Preparation

Soak rice overnight before steaming. Then put it in a saucepan (very low heat) with a little water, coconut milk and brown sugar. Cook until all the liquid is absorbed. Cut the mango into quarters and enjoy it all together! Be careful, rice must be served warm!