The following Lao Bamboo Soup (Kaeng Nor Mai) recipe is inspired by “Mrintharriss” on Facebook whose YouTube channel is Cooking With Mr. International. His quick 120-second video tutorial on how to make this soup on Facebook popped up on my newsfeed randomly. I love eating Lao soups at Asian potluck parties I have been to so I decided to give this a try. I do not use MSG in this recipe version and always prefer fresh ingredients over canned ingredients whenever possible. I happen to grow the rare ingredient needed for this recipe. I grow, sell, and ship Jelly Grass Vine aka Tiliacora Triandra / day sương sâm / Bai Ya Nang required for this recipe if you are interested growing this edible plant.
Ingredients
- 3 quarts water
- 3 Tbsp Lee Kum Kee Chicken Bouillon
- 2 quarts homemade chicken broth*
- 1/4 cup fish sauce
- 1/2 cup Mấm Nêm hiệu Ông Gìa Quê Hương (pa daek)
- 3 cup fresh Bai Ya Nang leaves (aka grass jelly leaves / lá sương sâm)
- 1 lb spare ribs
- 18 fresh quail eggs
- 2 pound brined bamboo shoots
- 1 Kabocha Pumpkin
- 2 King Oyster mushrooms
- 1 package Enoki mushroom
- 1 package Seafood mushroom
- 1 cup rice paddy herb (ngò ôm)
- Rice Slurry Herb paste (recipe below)
Rice Slurry Herb Paste Recipe
- 3-6 lemongrass stalks (1/2 cup)
- 6 shallots (1/2 cup)
- 1/2 cup Glutinous Rice Flour
- 6 garlic cloves
- Thai chili peppers to preference
Notes and adaptations:
1. *You can substitute the homemade chicken broth with water and add one tablespoon Lee Kum Kee Chicken Bouillon (No MSG version) per quart of water.
2. I use fresh quail eggs. Canned eggs are gross to my kids and me. The canned eggs texture is slightly rubbery while fresh boiled quail eggs taste just like mini bite-size chicken eggs.
3. Instead of soaked glutinous rice, I used glutinous rice flour.
4. With all the solid ingredients used for this pictorial, I would back off on the liquid amount to no more than four quarts of water/chicken broth next time.
Prepping:
1. First, I had my husband helped me cut the kabocha pumpkin in quarters since my hands are too weak. I diced the pumpkin into cubed pieces.
2. Next, I started to boil the fresh quail eggs. While waiting for the eggs to boil, I washed and chopped the rice paddy herb (ngò ôm). Then I sliced the King oyster mushrooms into strips and wash all the mushrooms.
3. Third, I sliced the brined bamboo shoots and soak it in water with a tablespoon of salt to remove the brine smell. I soak it until I am done peeling the quail egg shells. (If you are using fresh bamboo shoots, do your research on prepping and curing it before using the fresh bamboo shoots.)
4. Drain the hot water out from the pot of boiled quail eggs and pour in cubed ice and cold water to speed up the cooling process. I did my best to peel the egg shells. Good luck to you on the peeling part.
5. Blend ingredients for the rice slurry herb paste together and set aside.
6. Harvest grass jelly leaves to fill up one quart and wash it. Important: Blend the leaves and set aside. I added a half cup of water at a time until the blender blended the leaves smoothly. Then I dump the blended leaves through a big mesh thingy and used a big stainless steel spoon to try my best to press the leaves down to extract the grass jelly vine. I did have to add some water to get this much extract out. Ideally, I should extract enough leaves to make 3 cups full for this recipe. But I got tired and bored with this task. 😂
Well, finally I am ready to cook this Lao Bamboo Soup!
Cooking Direction
1. In a pot, I poured in four quarts of water and two quarts of my homemade chicken broth. I added a tablespoon of Lee Kum Kee Chicken Bouillon for every quart of water I added in to make the soup which is four tablespoons here. Bring the broth to a boil and add the grass jelly extract, bamboo shoots, and mushrooms.
3. Add in the rice slurry herb paste and stir. Add in the fish sauce and mấm nêm (aka pa daek) sauce. I did added half a cup of Glutinous Rice powder too.
Then add in the spare ribs and kabocha pumpkin. Cook for 15 to 20 minutes on medium heat until pork ribs are cooked.
5. Lastly, add in the quail eggs and rice paddy herb and turn off heat. Serve with sticky rice. Husband and I are backing off on the carbs so we enjoy the soup as is. Enjoy!
Taste result: I really like the outcome of this Lao Bamboo Soup (Kaeng Nor Mai). My husband really likes it too! He thinks the unami savory flavor is just right for him while I think it needs more fish sauce. 😂 I definitely will cook this again in the future and will probably try to buy a bigger Kombocha pumpkin because it’s the only natural sweet ingredient to help balance out the savoriness. I like how this recipe doesn’t need sugar and still taste good. I would rate this Lao recipe 8/10. It would be perfect if I can figure how to cook the pork ribs to tenderness. The pork ribs has a tough texture following the YouTuber’s instruction to cook it for 20 minutes. I think I would pressure cook the ribs with some of the seasoned broth next time and add it to the pot at the end.
