Gluten Free in Laos!

I’ve been to Laos twice now and have not yet had a reaction to gluten in the food I ate there. There are very few fancy restaurants where people speak English and can understand words like “allergy.” However, most food is obtained from stalls where you can *actually watch* them do what they do, and ask “what’s that?” till you are sure your food is safe.

One super delicious dish that was served everyone was Mekong fish. It is basically coated in rock salt (to preserve freshness) and stuffed with herbs before being grilled on hot charcoal. Totally safe when you can see how it was done. Just make sure they don’t use the same grill for marinated meats.

Available at road side restaurants in downtown Vientiane.
Available at road side restaurants in downtown Vientiane.

 

Also, the papaya salads were safe 99% of the time. Just check that they don’t use soy sauce in the marinade. It’s usually just rice vinegar (ask to see bottle) and lime juice, and chilli powder!

Finally, the mango and sticky rice were my go-to comfort food when travelling. The only thing to watch for with this dish is that they use *fresh* coconut milk (not powdered).

Tons of local salads and fruit abound, so there will always be raw, vegan, whole food options in markets and at stalls.

The soup dishes are good too, but you have to watch for MSG and the use of soy sauce and other non-gf preservatives in the soup base.

Peace,

Daisy

Kheer or Indian Rice Pudding

We’ll the nieces were having a sleepover today and in an effort to introduce some indian tastes to their diet, I thought I’d make some kheer. This is a simple dish with lots of happy childhood memories associated with it, as mum or dad would make it for celebrations. I tend to cheat a little as with the Kuala Lumpur heat, spending an hour stirring a pot is not my idea of fun. My youngest niece is lactose intolerant so this version uses lactose free milk and almond milk instead of full cream. Sadly, it did not go down so well with the kids but dad is happy to have more left over for his breakfast and mum sneaked a few portions despite her insistence on wanting a light meal day.

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Ingredients

2 cups cooked basmati rice
5 green cardamom pods
3 cups almond milk
2 cups lactose free milk ( you could just use 5 cups of normal milk)
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup raisins (you could add blanched almonds, pistachios and cashews too)

Method

Bring the milk and cardamom to boil and lower heat to medium. Stir in the sugar and let it reduce for 15 mins. Add in cooked rice and leave to simmer for a further 20 mins. Stir occasionally (I stirred in between editing a paper for a conference next week so around 3 times.) Add raisins (and nuts if using) and simmer for 10 mins. It should now be ready to serve. I like it warm and straight out of the pot but everyone else likes it cold.

Kiss kiss,

Bubbles