Cooking Lao food in Sydney, Australia

The main foods I missed and wanted to make were larp, sticky rice, eggplant jeo and green papaya salad. I always dreamed of making the larp with kangaroo. I managed to do it and it turned out really well!

Kangaroo larp
This is a salad with plenty of mint, minced meat and seasoned with lime and fish sauce. The larp recipe I used was Rosemary Brissenden's 'South East Asian Food' book. This book is wonderful and has an amazing number of great Lao recipes it has. I substituted kangaroo for the meat suggested. Instead of buying minced meat like the book said I used one of those huge Asian choppers to chop the meat into small pieces. The herbs ie mint that is in the recipe is way more expensive in Australia than in Laos. I think in Australia herbs are still a bit of a luxury item where as in Laos they are an everyday vegetable.

Sticky rice
I bought a cone- shaped sticky rice steaming basket from Pontip in the city. Details of Pontip below. The basket was huge but this is the only size they sell. The first time I cooked it, it wasn't very good. It came out too sticky because the basket I bought was huge, too deep so the rice touched the water.There is quite a few variation of recipes which I think are all fine as long as you stick to the following rules:

Soak the rice for at least 2 hours before you cook it

• Steam the rice by putting it in the bamboo basket.
• Put the basket a pot with hot water at the bottom.
• Steam for 20- 30 minutes and make sure the rice doesn't touch the water. Angle basket away from water if necessary.
• You can buy a couldren- like pot to steam the rice but I did it with an ordinary pot.
• I didn't think it was as necessary to rest the rice in a bamboo basket, or towel as many recipes suggest.

Eggplant jeo
This is a spicy chunky dip/ dipping sauce/ salsa-like dip with eggplant, garlic, chilli and fish sauce. I didn't follow a recipe for this, I just did it from what I remember it tastes like. I grilled the eggplant, garlic and chilli on the George Foreman grill but my little grill isn't powerful enough and it took too long. I mashed it all up with a mortar and pestle and served it with sticky rice. A delicious and healthy dish!

Green papaya salad
I missed tam mak hung really badly and would have been upset if this had gone wrong! Luckily it didn't. Using ingredients found in Sydney I could make this papaya salad. I bought the green papaya at Pontip and found that it was also available at my local greengrocer for $3.99 per kg. I bought the special fish sauce at Pontip also where they can make papaya salad to order for around $8, from memory.

Pontip Exotic Fruit & Vegetables Wholesale
This is a grocery store that is run by a Thai woman. It has equipment and groceries including fresh fruit and vegetables to be able to make Thai and Lao food. The also sell pre- cooked meals.

16 Campbell St
Haymarket NSW 2000

Opposite Capitol Theatre

Lucky Thai Frozen Foods
Shp643/ 40-50 Campbell St
Haymarket NSW 2000

This is another Thai grocery store that has a lot of Thai good such as shampoos. It has a lots of videos and pre- cooked meals. I actually have to check whether this is the exact correct store because I swear that at the shop there's only a Thai name out the front.