Lao Quail Stew (Lam Nok Kho)

Ingredients:

1 dried quail, matured until almost mouldy, divided into separate breast & leg parts, washed and put on a plate

7 round eggplants

5 lg fresh green chilli peppers

1 stalk lemon grass

3 straight-bulbed spring onions

Sa-kahn, cut into pieces about 5 cm long and 5 cm thick-about 10 pieces-washed

3 young shoots rattan, cooked by being placed directly on a charcoal fire and peeled so as to leave only the soft part, cut 2 cm long

1 bunch phak tam nin, picked over, keeping only the leaves and tops, which are to be washed and Cut into pieces about 2 cm long

Spring onion, the green parts, cut into pieces about 2 cm long

Washed sweet basil leaves

1 piece of crisp-fried pork skin, cut into squares of 5 cm and put on a plate padek

Salt

2 yards long beans, cut into pieces about 2 cm long

Cooking Instructions:

Put 2 metal jugfuls (2 pints) of water in a pot and place it on the fire. Add the prepared bird, the eggplants, the chilli peppers, the spring onions, the lemon grass, the so-kahn and salt. Cover and let it boil. Add the padek in a padek basket suspended in the soup. When the eggplants and the chilli peppers are done, spoon them out and pound them. Put this mixture back in the pot. When it returns to the boil add the phak toni nin and the yard-long beans. When all is done, add the pieces of pork skin and the chopped coriander leaves, taste and check the saltiness. Serve in a bowl, garnished with the chopped spring onion leaves. Accompany the dish with young cucumbers and older eggplants and other fresh vegetables (e.g. salad leaves, watercress, etc.).

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