Stormy Sunday

After a week of perfect weather, the forecast predicted a storm for today. We normally awake early to bright sunshine streaming through the windows, but today built on yesterday's somewhat grey trend and we weren't inspired to leap out of bed.

The thing that eventually roused us was the thought of missing the morning market, which would mean waiting until next week to assemble provisions. Fortunately, we weren't too late and managed to replenish our refrigerator with fresh produce.

For a late breakfast, I had a stab at Thai sticky rice and mango. Normally eaten as a dessert, this is most popular during April and May when the sweet fruit is at its peak.

I managed to overcook the rice, which, although creamy, should have more of a bite like a risotto. Going easy on the palm sugar, the result was not sweet enough, and December is not mango season, so the fruit was a little tart. A little critical, perhaps, but it was still a comforting dish.

We hunkered down for the predicted weather but despite being blustery, the promised storm never resolved.

In the evening, I tried my hand at two ostensibly Thai classics: som tam (papaya salad) and laab (ลาบ), which are often paired together. In fact, both of these are apparently Laotian in origin, but as Thailand has been the vanguard of SE Asian tourism, it has popularised versions of food from its neighbours Laos, Myanmar, Malaysia, and Cambodia.

In Laos, som tam is called tam som, and was brought to Northern Thailand by the Isan community and from there found favour in the rest of the country. As with yesterday's pad thai, the sauce is key to the dish, as papaya is even blander when young and green than when ripe. For the dressing, I used raw garlic, fresh chilli, lime juice, palm sugar, with soy sauce and salt replacing the fish sauce. Arguably, it could have withstood a little more, as versions served in restaurants arrive in a pool of tangy dressing.

For the laab, crumbled tofu actually stood in rather well for chicken, absorbing the flavours. It was fried with pounded lemongrass, garlic, roasted dried chillies, and the usual lime/soy/salt/sugar mix. Before serving, I stirred through chopped mint, basil, and coriander, as well as khao khua (ข้าวคั่ว), toasted ground glutinous rice that adds flavour and absorbs the juices. Laab should be extremely flavoursome, as the herbs and spices will flavour whatever it is served with (often rice). I could have amped up the flavours even further, but it was a mouthful of taste all the same.