Mengjinglai Village, Daluo Township, Menghai County
Xishuangbanna, Yunnan
西双版纳勐海县打洛镇勐景来傣寨
Our third destination in Yunnan was Xishuangbanna, in the south of the province, home to the Dai people. During this visit we did a homestay with a Dai family and I was able to see up close how Dai food is made--in restaurants you seldom have an opportunity to inspect the kitchen and watch the chef at work.
It was 4 o’clock in the afternoon and pleasantly warm by the time we arrived in Mengjinglai, a Dai village on the border of Myanmar, separated by the narrow Daluo River. Having grown up in Bali, I felt right at home experiencing all the familiar sights and smells --women wrapped in sarongs, looped hair piled high in buns, the gigantic old shade-giving banyan trees, which spread their tentacles deep into the earth, and the smells of Southeast Asian cooking ingredients.
My very first Dai dining experience was in Beijing at the Golden Peacock Restaurant , near the National Minorities Universities, which is known for its lemon grass fish, spareribs cooked in a bamboo tube, potato balls, pineapple sticky rice and dipping sauce called “sa” in the Dai dialect. So, I was curious and looked forward to dinner.
The sticky rice, the main staple, was steamed to a delicious perfection, with just the right chewiness. The boiled cabbage came with a tamarind-based dipping sauce that was sour and spicy. The puffed beef rinds were akin to pork rinds except they are not so fatty. The host at the family we stayed with had limited Mandarin, and so gesticulated with her hands, showing us how to dip the beef rinds in the dipping sauce. One of the most interesting dishes was the deep-fried river moss, which was seasoned with pounded fresh ginger, garlic, chilies, and salt. The pork fillet was the highlight of the meal; stir-fried with spring onion, ginger and red pepper, it was unbelievably delicious, most notable, the wonderful flavor of the ginger. The ginger here is small and flavorful, which makes a big difference in the outcome of the dishes. In China’s big cities today, almost all the produce is appallingly huge and so bla.
Dai Jianjun, owner of Longjing Dragon Well Manor in Hangzhou, said at the Sino-US Forum on Art and Literature in November last year that to eat well “go to countryside,” and he was right.
The following day, I watched our host prepare moss that she collected in the river. First the moss was pounded and then washed and rinsed repeatedly. It was then divided and the contents was rolled into balls and placed in a basket to hang and drain off any excess water.
Unfortunately, I was not able to see the rest of the procedure, but I was told that the moss is seasoned with pounded ginger, garlic, crushed chillies and salt to taste, and then is spread on a circular bamboo matt for drying. Once dried, this food can be stored in a dry place before deep-frying.
I also had a chance to sample lasum, a snack similar to rujak, which is popular among Malaysians and Indonesians. Lasum consists of raw vegetables, including cabbage, green wild eggplant, intensely sourbaby starfruit, coriander, and leeks. The dipping sauce is made with fermented soya beans: salty, spicy and garlicky. I must say that it is an acquired taste.
Our next stop is Wuliang Mountain, where the Yi people have a passion for cooking and dancing that they bring together at meal times.