Northeastern Thai DishesConnoisseur

Northeastern Thai Dishes
Connoisseurs of Thai food say that Northeastern food is the best in the country. Typical Isan disher can now be found on the menus of the smartest Thai restaurants in Bangkok, and many small side-street food shops are crowded with well-dressed diners as well as taxi-drivers. As in Laos and Northern Thailand, sticky rice is the staple, eaten either as a base for other dishes or as a sweet when steamed in a hollow piece of bamboo with coconut milk and black beans Typical Laotian herbs such as dill (called pak chee lao by Thais)are often used as seasonings.
Laab, spicy minced beef or chicken, is specialty of the region-the methods of preparation varying from province to province-along with som tam (green papaya salad), barbecued chicken, hor mok (fish with curry paste and steamed in a banana leaf), catfish curry, and entrails cooked in many ways. Since meat is often scarce in villages, fresh-water fish and shrimps are the principal sources of protein, either in the fermented form or cooked with herbs and spices. One of the great regional delicacies for those who live along the Meakhong is a giant catfish called Pla puk, which can reach 10 feet (3 meters) in length and weigh more than 550 pounds (250 kilograms). Northeasterners like their food not just spicy but very hot, and chili peppers are used more here than almost anywhere else.*