Doc V's Healthy Kitchen

After the fish and chips from last night we can use an overdose of vegetables. Cucumber (instead of papaya) salad, steamed vegetables and sticky rice.

Start with the STICKY RICE (Khao Niaow in Laos). ‘Sticky’ rice has a praticular texture and flavor. You can find it in Asian supermarkets. Where steamed rice is transparent, brown-white uncooked and white once cooked. Sticky rice is the opposite, white uncooked, brownish-transparent  once cooked. The rice is eaten with 3-4 fingers of your left hand in bite-sized balls to dip in the food. Wash the rice first under running water until the water is clear. Soak the rice in water for a few hours (packaged rice for 2-3 h). Drain and rinse a few times. Put the rice in a steamer basket, 6 cm above the boiling water, without lid for 20 mins. Turn the rice and continue for another 5 mins. The rice should be soft and sticky but not mushy. Serve the rice immediately. If you go to Laos don’t forget to buy the beautiful little bamboo containers. PS reheating the rice in the microwave is perfectly possible after adding a sprinkle of  water.

For a vegetarian, super healthy meal we serve the rice with a CUCUMBER SALAD (Tam Mak Taeng), blogpost Vietnamese cuisine… and

STEAMED VEGETABLE SALAD WITH SESAME (Soop Pak). Mix 500 grams of green beans with  300 grams of roughly chopped courgettes (or other vegetables such as carrots, eggplant, spinach) and steam for approx 15 mins. Mix 2 table spoons of roasted sesame seeds with a pounded paste made of 1-2 chilies, 2 shallots, 3 garlic cloves and 5 cm of chopped galanga or ginger  which you blacken first over an open flame or to the side of a gas flame, or in a dry pan with some salt. Mix the steamed vegetables with the pounded paste, a handful of chopped coriander, some fish sauce, and lime.

How nice to bring a bit of Laos to Italy ;-).