Lahu food is spicy and almost all their food is seasoned with chili and salt. The staple diet consists of water-based vegetable curries supplemented by animals caught in the forest. Bamboo, mushrooms and other vegetables collected in the forest are also eaten regularly. When making mushroom curry, the Lahu add crumbled dry soy bean pancakes to the mixture in order to protect their bodies against any ill effects from poisonous mushrooms.

Narm Prik (for four people)

Put all the following ingredients, except the tomato and the spring onion, in a wok and cook without oil for three to eight minutes or until cooked.

• Ten dried chilis

• Two small tomatoes

• About fifteen very small garlic cloves (These are not as strong as big garlic cloves. If using bigger cloves only use three cloves)

• One head of galangal

• One spoonful of chopped fresh ginger

• Three very small red onions (These are much smaller than Spanish onions. If unavailable, use half a normal onion)

• Two chopped spring onions

Cook the tomatoes in the coals of a fire (or barbeque or grill) and then peel of the blackened skin. Pound the cooked spices in a mortar and pestle, add the tomatoes and continue pounding until smooth. Add salt to taste. Add the spring onion and pound a little more. Place in a dish and eat with rice and cooked vegetables, such as long beans, bamboo, and cucumbers.

Sar Joh - Steamed Pork in Banana Leaf

Cut the following as finely as possible:

• Ten small fresh chili

• Two heads of galangal

• One head of garlic (adjust to taste)

• Four small red onion or one small normal onion

• One bunch of fresh coriander

• Two spring onion

• One bunch of sweet basil

Mix together with one kilo of minced pork and continue to chop until smooth. Add salt or fish sauce to taste. Place one or two spoonfuls in a banana leaf. Wrap up the mixture and tie the top of the leaf closed using bamboo vine. Repeat until the remaining mixture has been used. Steam the leaves until cooked (about 15 – 20 minutes). Eat with rice. 

Sticky Rice Cake

Cook the sticky rice. Pound until smooth (If you don’t have a large mortar for pounding rice, you can place the rice in a sack and pound with a rock). Cook and grind white or black sesame seeds and use the powder to cover a large bamboo mat or other pan. Form the rice into small cakes and place on the sesame-covered mat. The cakes can be eaten immediately or left to dry for one or two days. Once dried, the cakes can be cut into small pieces and fried. Sticky-rice cakes are usually eaten with fried pork. During the New Year’s Festival these cakes are given to friends or guests as souvenirs.