Sai ua: Another variety from Kualao Restaurant in Vientiane, Laos

When it comes to food, it is reasonable to expect varieties not only form different towns or regions but also within the region.

Take sai ua, the sausage from Laos and the Isan region of Thailand.

Along the streets of Vientiane (also spelled as Vieng Chan), vendors selling grilled sai ua are a plenty. A favorite of mine is the stall in front of an abandoned building along Fa Ngum Road, facing the Mekong River. But today, we explored another dining option in Vientiane by the name of Kualao Restaurant, one of the fancy restaurants located along Samsetthirath Road.

Kualao Restaurant is popular for its regular traditional Lao dance performances. Every night, talented locals donning traditional suits take the stage to present its dances to willing audience, which is followed by a hearty Lao dinner. That said, I am expecting the food to be remarkable. As I have never watched the show, I thought we could at least sample the food.

So off for lunch we went to the uncrowded Kualao Restaurant. Food was prepared only after ordering, except for Mok, a traditional Lao food wrapped and steamed or boiled in banana and pandan leaves which takes an entire day to prepare. Naturally I ordered the pork sausage:

Name/Type: Sai ua/sai uwa (listed as Pork Sausage in their menu)

Meat used in the sausage: Pork

Price: 59,000 Kip (LAK) or US$7.34

From Kualao Restaurant

141 Samsenthai Road, Vientiane. Tel & Fax: (856-21) 215 777

kualao.laopdr.com/

While this is also a sample of sai ua, it's tastes and texture is noticeably different from the ones I've had before. First, using pork and frying instead of grilling it contributed to the rather dry texture of the sausage (Beef when cooked right is almost often more flavorful and juicier than pork). It didn't help that this version of sai ua is longer to keep the juices together. Yet still, I tried to eat this with relish.

Considering how the flavor left me wanting and the price made my wallet ache, I would recommend buying sai ua on the street. The rest of our lunch ensemble was better though -- green papaya salad, mok and fruits in coconut milk (think of thick ginataan with cubed dragonfruit, banana, carrots and rice balls instead of cassava and sweet potato). Kualao is still worth a visit, especially if you're raring to watch the traditional Lao dance number.

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Sai ua
Longganisa/sausages of Laos, Asia
Vientiane, Laos

Preview: Yao mu - Another sausage from laos

Here's a preview of next month's featured sausage or longganisa: YAO MU.

Yao mu is a sausage made of pork. It's size and color is comparable to salami and white sausages from Europe. The manner it's prepared is a secret to how yao mu gets its distinct taste.

Drop by again next week to know more about yao mu here.

Sai ua: The sausage from Laos and Isan of Northeast Thailand

After further research on sai ua, I found out that while sai ua is a specialty of  Luang Prabang, it is neither exclusive to the city, nor to Laos.

In fact, sai ua is a type of sausage common in Laos and Northern Thailand, and each place has its own take on sai ua. In Chiang Mai, sai ua is longer than the ones found in Vientiane.

The shared food  by Thailand's northeast region and Laos could be explained by history. Modern-day Thailand and Laos were part of the Khmer empire (See above map from Wikipedia commons, Khmer Empire area labeled as red). When the monarchy fell in the 13th century, the Isan region became a part of the succeeding Lao Lan Xang kingdom for the next centuries, but in the 17th century, Siam stepped in and claimed the territory. From 18th to 19th century, Thailand "carried out forced population transfers from Laos to Isan (source)", followed by an extensive Thaification campaign, which encouraged the multi-cultural kingdom to adapt the script and culture of central Thailand. This led to a drift between the Lao of the Isan region and those in Laos, and Isan has since been a part of Thailand. But despite the established geographical boundary, Isan and Laos still share a culture and history that run deep. Their language and food, including sai ua, is a testament of this.

The good news with this realization is that, like in the Philippines, I can go around Laos and Northeast Thailand so sample a wide variety of sai ua! Once I do this, expect I'll share the experience here at Turo-turong Longganisa.

Longanisa recipe: Sai ua

Here is a recipe of sai ua that I found online:


Sai Ua Moo
(Note: moo or mu means pork in Lao, so sai ua mo means pork sausage - ML)

Ingredients:

• 400 grams pork meat, including some fat, washed and minced 150 grams pork fat, washed and minced
• 2 dried chilli peppers, soaked in water until soft
• 10 (small) shallots
• 10 black peppercorns
• pound the above three ingredients together finely
• coriander leaves, finely chopped (Note: I was right! it does have coriander. :) - ML)
• Salt and fish sauce
• 1 pig's intestine, turned inside out and washed and then turned right side out again

Directions:
Place in a bowl the pounded ingredients, the minced pork, the minced pork fat and the chopped coriander leaves. Add the fish sauce and mix all together. Take a very small sample portion of the mixture, wrap it in pieces of banana leaf and grill it until cooked. Taste it and check the saltiness. (If this test is satisfactory you can proceed to make the sausages. If the taste of the grilled sample is not right, adjust the seasoning.)

Stuff a section of the pig's intestine with the mixture from the bowl, taking care not to include any air bubbles. If there are any, use a needle to let them escape.

Tie the intestine into portions as you stuff it, each portion to be 15 cm long. There should be two knots between each section with a space in between for cutting them apart. Use a bamboo holder to grill them until they are done. Then transfer them to a platter.

Serve with Jaew Bong.

For those who can read it in script, here is the recipe:

Credit: The recipe and photo or recipe written in script is from http://www.seasite.niu.edu/lao/othertopics/foods/recipe12.htm. Many thanks for sharing the recipe with the world! :)