By Jin Posted 5th Feb 2016While Chiang Mai as a destination is world famous, its regional cuisine is much lesser know outside of the country! Dishes from Thailand that most are familiar internationally tend to hail from other areas, but Lanna food has much to excite the inquisitive palate. While at its foundation it shares many similarities with Lao cuisine it is also strongly influenced by Burmese, Yunnanese, Isaan (Northeast) and Central Thai cuisines, and is a sleeping beauty just waiting to take its place among the world’s great culinary destinations.
The staple of Northern Thai food is sticky rice, a highly glutinous variety of rice favoured in Laos, Northeastern and Northern Thailand as well as by Tai ethnic groups in Myanmar and Yunnan. To accompany sticky rice is the obligatory chilli paste, the lord of the table, and the main condiment without which a meal would be incomplete. There is a vast variety of chilli pastes, some flavoured by pickled bamboo, others by sour fruits or even fermented fish. But they all share a few common ingredients: fire roasted chillis, garlic, shallots and salt.
Next on the list of ‘must-haves’ on the Northern Thai table is soup. Some of these loosely-named soups are so jam-packed with ingredients that stew may actually be the better description for them. Chiang Mai style soups are filled with all different kinds of local vegetables and protein. Some popular ones include banana flowers, pickled bamboo, mustard greens, water gourd and green jackfruit, along with other popular local vegetables. In addition to the ubiquitous chicken, pork and beef, other sources of protein may include fish, frogs and various dried meats.
A selection of typical Lanna dishes and chilli paste
Gaeng Ho soup, one of the more stew-like versions, shows clearly the fusion of Lanna and Burmese culinary traditions. In addition to the common ingredients of lemongrass and galangal, Gaeng Ho includes curry powder which mimics the style of Burmese curry.
After the sticky rice, chilli paste and soup, the table will normally have an assortment of meat and vegetable dishes. Spicy minced meat dishes are very popular, and are called Laab or Sa, these are comon throughout neighboring Laos as well. Other methods of cooking include grilling (often with banana leaves used as a wrapping), steaming, stir fry or pot roast. There are also various forms of sausages and dried or cured meats.
Tasty morsels wrapped in banana leaves
Fresh fruit juices
The first stop of four on the tour, which quenches the thirst while giving a little sugar boost for the ride, is at Nong’s fresh fruit juice shop. Nong makes 100% fresh juices daily from a wide range of local fruits. Here we learn a bit about the culture and history of Chiang Mai, as her shop sits near Wat Inthakin, a temple considered to be at the navel of the city. Taking our bikes we ride across the city moat passing Wat Lok Molee where we stop to listen to the monks chat and spill a bit of holy water on the Buddha to bless us on our night’s ride.
A typical Chiang Mai food market
The second food stop is Tannin Market, officially known as Sri Wattana Market. It is here that we really delve deep into the whats and wherefores of Chiang Mai Cuisine. Taking a tour of the market with bento boxes in hand, we will select some never-before-eaten fruits, then have a walk around the market for an intro into the various ingredients of Chiang Mai food. Stopping by the chilli paste stall a paste will be created just for us before we head off to the main food sellers to fill our bento boxes with the various culinary delights of this night market. We then sit down to unpack and discuss the various foods garnered from the market. After a short lesson in how to eat sticky rice we dig in, only stopping after we have finished off the last of the fruits.
Sitting down to a delicious meal
Back on the bikes we ride off to our third stop. This time just for a light snack to taste another of the delightful cuisines of Northern Thailand, Shan food. The Shan are called Tai Yai by the Thais. Here we stop to have Tai Yai Salad which is made of pickled tea leaves, peanuts, roasted soybeans, chilli, fresh tomatoes and cilantro. Surely by now, you must be thinking that you are full, but there is always room for more when it comes to dessert, right? Our last stop on the tour is by the River Ping in a 150 year old, nicely preserved Chinese Thai merchant's home. Here on the banks of the river under the branches of a rain tree we sit down to a traditional Thai dessert.
The dessert is a surprise as the restaurant manager will personally select the dessert to be served on each particular night. The evening is topped of with a famous Chinese tea from Mae Salong District in Chiang Rai. While you cannot hope to fathom the breadth and sophistication of Lanna Cuisine in just a few hours of a food tour, this will certainly point you in the right direction for further explorations.
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