Best. Beer Snack. Ever.

Beer Lao accompaniment par excellence: dried mushrooms fried with chilies, garlic, and lime leaves

We're back in Kuala Lumpur unpacking suitcases full of goodies purchased during our trip, including:

• a particular style of thin, cheap hammered metal bowl that we became obsessed with early in the trip, searched for at every market we visited, and finally found in plain sight on our last day in Chiang Mai at Warorot (I'm now wishing I'd bought more than 4).
• three types of tua nao (pressed and sun-dried fermented soybean cakes), a northern Lao and Thai kitchen essential
• many varieties of chilies, dried and left whole and ground.
• a bundle of dried branches of the northern Thai variety of prickly ash, berries still intact.
• a thick slab of artisan brown cane sugar.
• a kilo of nicely tart and exceptionally flavorful mango leather (about U$3.50).
• an 8-pack of mung bean vermicelli -- not a particularly exotic ingredient but one that is for some reason hard to come by in Kuala Lumpur.
• kai pen, Luang Prabang-style river algae that's pounded into a sheet, sometimes seasoned (ours has bits of garlic and tomato and lots of sesame seeds), and dried in the sun -- eaten toasted or deep-fried, usually with jaew bong (a lovely sweet-spicy dip made with dried buffalo skin).
• an amazingly delicious sort of 'preserve', of het lom (a meaty brown mushroom seen in northern Thailand and Isaan, especially around September/October) fried with whole dried peppers and prickly ash in a pool of oil, picked up last Friday at Chiang Mai's Cin Haw market. (The seller recommended eating them with khao tom/congee but I'm also envisioning them tossed with stir-fried minced pork, scallions, and good noodles.)

Also, speaking of fungi, the treat pictured above: slivered dried mushrooms fried with garlic slices, lime leaves, and dried chilies till crisp.

Spied at the morning market near Luang Prabang's National Museum (and then subsequently at other markets around town), it's reminiscent of Thai-style fried peanuts and cashews -- but oh so much better.

When those already intensely fragrant dried mushrooms hit the oil they lose whatever moisture remains and become nothing but carriers of pure mushroom essence. A single spindly crisp delivers a punch of mushroom flavor to which the fiery dried chilies and grassy-limey lime leaves are the perfect complement.

This isn't a snack to be eaten by the handful but slowly -- one piece at a time, one after another, preferably with an ice-cold beer Lao to sip as a chaser.

Comments

[J2Kfm]

Wait, so do you chew on those dried chillies as well?! Closest I can think of is the Thai's version of fried curry leaves, cashews and anchovies combination.

[Albert]

this looks pretty awesome. but before I get a chance to try this, my favorite beer snack is pig ears.

[Sputnik]

Beer Lao is one of the best in SEA I think!

[Shiew Yuin]

Is mung bean vermicelli difficult to come by in KL?! Think we usually just get ours from the market :)

[Robyn]

J2Kfm -- chew on the dried chilies? If you like. And I do. :-) There's a link to the a recipe for the cashew/peanut - lime leaf - chili mix.

Albert - Right, pig ears go well with booze. How do you like them -- deep-fried?

Sputnik - that's what they say. I'm not a huge beer fan but for my money Vietnam's La Rue is even better. Rather hard to find though.

[Judy]

Are these typical to Laos only? I've never come across such a snack before. Let alone a snack of any kind, to be honest, but then again I'm guzzling 10 dong beers in Vietnam by the roadside. I wonder what kind of mushrooms these are

[Danielle]

I would really like to make this. I would also like to know what kind of mushrooms are used in this, please?

[OysterCulture]

This has my name all over it, sounds amazing!

[jodi]

wow, that was an great picture. I kept looking at it, thinking--are they talking about "this"? It makes me want to try some. :)

[sunfug]

Really enjoyed these posts. The beer nibbles look terrific - is that one of the metal bowls you're talking about Robyn? On my visit to lovely Laos, a decade ago, I was struck by how idiosyncratic the food was (i.e. dependent on local herbs and ingredients I'd never encountered in SEA before). It was an adventure in eating every day. In Luang Prabang did you come across a dish of little river shrimp deep fried with garlic and a mystery herb? Delicious! Also, I agree with Sputnik that Beer Lao is an under-rated brew, really clean and tasty. It is a measure of the famed Lao hospitality that when we turned up at the Beer Lao brewery, misinformed and expecting a tour (non-existent 10 years ago but maybe they do them now) the staff sat us down in their executive meeting room and plied us with beer and snacks while explaining our mistake and giving us a short history of the brewery!

[Robyn]

Judy - we haven't seen them elsewhere in SE Asia and we've gotten around a bit.

Danielle - I'm not sure but I believe they are what Thai call 'het lom' -- which is a medium to dark brown floppy mushroom that's shaped a bit like an oyster mushroom (but larger). The mushrooms are dried before frying -- but not dried so much that they are stiff.

sunfug - yes, that is one of the metal bowls. It's hard to see from the photo but on the outside it's sort of 'faceted' like a jewel. We were also looking for the very plain, thin metal bowls often used as dippers in bathrooms (!) and found some on our last day.
Yes, Lao food is very herb and green veggie-focused and Luang Prabang and around northern flavors are prized. Didn't come across the river shrimp but they sound delish! Thanks for your comment.