My Lao Kitchen

I hope everyone is enjoying the lovely fall weather. Though it has cooled off considerably since I first arrived in Luang Prabang; I still won't be pulling out my boots, cardigans, and scarves anytime soon (Ignore the fact that I didn't even bother to pack any boots, cardigans, or scarves) Along with missing out on the cool crisp weather of the season I am also missing all my other favorite fall things, like pumpkin flavored everything (stereotypical I know) and Thanksgiving with my family. So what's a girl to do when there are no sings of autumn anywhere to be found, well she's gotta create a little fall magic of your own. So that is what I did.

To my roommates and I happy surprise, pumpkins started popping up in the markets, and after spotting a recipe for pumpkin bread on one of my favorite blogs Rhyme and Ribbons I had found how I was going to bring a little fall to Laos.

So I went out and picked up a couple of pumpkins and got to work. I shoveled out all the slimy insides and put the pumpkin seeds aside for roasting. I cut the pumpkin up into chunks and put them in the oven to bake. After about 40 minutes the pumpkin slices were ready to be pureed, so I pulled out my blender, tossed the pumpkin in, and pressed puree. Nothing. Just a whirling sound while my pumpkin slices just sat there untouched. I tried again, but still nothing. I dumped out the pumpkin and decided to take the old fashioned approach. With a fork and my hands I smashed the pumpkin until the texture was smooth and creamy (who needs a blender).

Now that my pumpkin was ready it was time to find the other ingredients. Fortunately finding the other ingredients didn't cause me to much grief except for the nutmeg. I could only find ridiculously large containers of nutmeg that were way outside of my budget; so I substituted Allspice. (which worked just fine). I changed a few other small things as well. I didn't have a bread pan so I made pumpkin muffins instead and lowered the cooking time to about 30 minutes. I also left out the chocolate chips and halved the recipe.

Here is my slightly altered recipe:
(You can find the original recipe here: Rhyme and Ribbons' Pumpkin Bread)

Ingredients:
Makes about 10 medium sized muffins

1/3 cup of sugar
1/3 cup of brown sugar
1/4 cup of oil (I used coconut oil)
1 egg
1/2 cup of pumpkin
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of allspice
1 cup of flour
2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons of milk

In a bowl mix the sugars, the oil, and the egg until smooth.

Next add in the pumpkin and mix again.

In another bowl, whisk the baking soda, cinnamon, salt, allspice, and flour.

Now here is where I forgot to read directions and just poured all the milk straight in without alternating between the pumpkin mix. But honestly with so little milk I don't think it mattered, and the muffins still turned out just fine. If you want to be correct, alternate between blending in the milk and the pumpkin mix in with the other ingredients. Or you can be like me and just pour in all the milk, and then add the pumpkin mix a little at a time.

Once the batter is ready pour into a muffin tin and bake at 350 F (or approx. 180 C) for 30 minutes.

The muffins were so delicious and tasted like fall (if fall had a taste that is). You can bet that these muffins didn't last long. Thankfully my pumpkin puree did and my roommate and I were able to make lots of other pumpkin treats like these pumpkin cookies (also from Rhyme and Ribbons), pumpkin spice oatmeal, and pumpkin pancakes.

Let me introduce you to my Lao Kitchen...

Okay end of tour. Yes that's right all I have is this single stove top. (A toaster oven is hopefully on its way, and I can not wait for it to get here!) As a girl who practically grew up in the kitchen, I have developed a love for cooking and especially baking. So how am I supposed to go a year with a single stove and a toaster oven (that still hasn't made its way into my kitchen yet)? I'm going to have to get creative I guess.

With that said I have decided I will begin documenting my adventures in my Lao kitchen here on my blog. First up, pancakes! So be sure to check back here every once in a while for stories from my kitchen.

My roommate and I were out shopping planning to pick up some pasta and just have a night in, when we spotted the pancake mix. We immediately forgot our spaghetti filled dreams; texting our friends inviting them over to join us for dinner. After picking up the rest of the ingredients we headed back home ready to whip up some delicious flapjacks. We dug through the pots and pans that the teachers before us left behind, and found a huge frying pan. Perfect! or so you would think. Remember we were working with a single stove top that was maybe half the size of this pan, but we didn't have much of a choice. We had to work with what we had. So we heated up the stove and whisked together the pancake mix, milk, eggs. Once the batter was ready we poured a little into the pan, starting out with making three pancakes at a time.

I wish I could say it went smoothly. That we played Frank Sinatra (which we really did) and each of our pancakes came out perfectly golden and fluffy. Instead our first round cooked so unevenly due to the fact that only half the pan fit over the stove, but we didn't give up hope. We ate the pancakes, hiding all evidence of failure, and continued on this time making one pancake at a time. Success! It took us a little over an hour, but we had enough pancakes to feed us and our friends.

Next up was syrup. Syrup doesn't exist in Laos as far as my roommate and I know, so we decided to take a chance in making our own. I found a recipe and began boiling the water. Later pouring and mixing in the sugar until it dissolved. How can you go wrong with sugar and water? I'm glad you asked. Soon after taking the concoction off the stove the syrup cooled and hardened, not exactly ideal for pouring over pancakes. I attempted melting it again, and left it on the stove top so it would stay warm. Unfortunately it didn't turn out quite like it did the first time, but my friends swore to me that it was still good.

Despite the syrup setback, we all stuffed ourselves full with pancakes and fruit. Enjoying a taste from home after a long week. And having to make enough pancakes for five people one at a time must not have been to much of a hassle for us, because my roommate and I volunteered to do it again the next night for some of our students.