Shan Food - YARDBIRD CHICKEN CURRY!! 🐓 Village Cooking in Mae Hong Son!

hey everyone hope you're having an amazing day it's mark wiens i'm in the small village of mung pong which is in the mehangsan province of northern thailand it is a beautiful area and this is specifically a taiyai which is the another name for a shan people village we are staying at a homestay and tonight they are a little actually this afternoon uh some of the aunties have gathered who are some of the expert cooks in this village and they're gonna cook for us a home style taiyai shan meal i love her her air slicing there's gonna be chicken curry there's gonna be an auntie who specializes in a in a sean donut dessert she's gonna make that i'm very excited to be here it's an honor i'm gonna share all of the food all of the cooking with you in this video want one most of the thai or the shan people they come from shan state and some of the other states in myanmar and there's also a large community of shan within thailand especially in mehongsan and the border regions of thailand and myanmar anika so auntie is getting started with the first dish with it's called yes the thumbs up and that is a real free-range yard bird beautiful just like the size of your palm uh chopping that up into pieces that is gonna have massive flavor and probably delicious texture i can already tell okay one of the main ingredients for sean cuisine is tua nao it's one of my main seasoning ingredients which is fermented soybean it's formed into disc shapes and you'll see it all around this area of mae hong son and they said you could just taste it break a little piece so it's like fermented i've had it you know she says it's really good just to eat it like this i've tasted it in dishes but i don't think i've ever tasted a chip of it oh it's not salty i thought it was going to be salty you know it's not salty at all it has this kind of smoky starchiness to it you can tell it's going to elevate that flavor provide the umami tower even the dark red color of it you can tell how healthy how natural that chicken is friendly oh man you can just smell the aroma of those chilies erupting in the fruitiness of them and they're so juicy those chilies too so nick and as auntie is over there still uh working on the chicken curry over here another auntie is going to get started on a tayyi dessert with a batter and with uh black sesame seeds okay [Music] what she did she made a dough just from rice flour and water made it into a perfect dough and then she has this pan where she spread out some black sesame seeds and then she rolls out a piece of dough she rolls them into the sesame seeds and then makes them into circle donut shapes and i think i believe that those are going to be fried deep fried [Music] foreign ah foreign that means very delicious i'm gonna need that for later but auntie uh she said just one tomato goes in only one tomato and i love her her air slicing that was awesome oh uh [Music] she then transfers over and deep fries them and that's just straight oil she's gonna deep fried them and then after they turn golden then they'll be given a bath i believe in a sugar cane juice or sugar cane liquid so at this stage they're still they're still not sweet [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign the donuts get dropped into that sugar cane syrup uh just for a few seconds she stirs them around and then takes them out and drains them that's it she said they're ready to eat those are beautiful they're gonna be amazing i'm gonna try it while it's hot and fresh and you pick it up and it's dense it's heavy it's not like a airy fluffy uh doughnut they're more dense because that's solid rice flour uh with the black sesame deep fried and then dunked soaked in sugarcane syrup wow oh that's insane i'm not normally into desserts but that is amazing the hot freshness of it it's crispy on the outside you taste that sugar cane syrup which is juicy which just erupts out of the crunchiness and it has this caramelly smoky burnt aroma to it oh that's absolutely sensationally good i couldn't believe my first bite actually wow i don't think donuts will ever be the same for me again this is uh this will change your donut game curry is coming along nicely smells so good and andy just said they forgot to add the kaffir lime leaves so just ran to the tree she she just ran to the tree got some kaffir lime leaves which are going to go directly into that gorgeously smelling curry and he is getting started on a frog dish little frogs which she's gonna take i think they've already been pre-boiled or blanched she's gonna mince them up bones and all everything mince them up and mix it with one of the pastes that she pounded as well one of the curry pastes that she pounded she said almost like little like little fish balls or pork balls but made from frog and paste curry paste uh which she pounded all those herbs and spices but we'll see what happens oh lung can't the frog is minced she adds that to a pot and adds that paste the paste includes to a now the the fermented soybean i think there was chilies in there and maybe garlic um and a few slices of tomatoes and then she's mashing that together mixing it with that i'm mixing i know these little frog balls frog meatballs are called bunk yet in language means balls so these are frog balls [Music] is [Music] she adds in some oil she starts to sizzle it and then she sprinkled on some of the turmeric powder meatballs have never smelled so good that smells amazing the fumes of the frog and the chilis oh man i love it there was a slight stickage to the pan with the frog meatballs uh so they're just joking joking about it and they had to kind of scrape it off so they kind of uh the little balls some of them fell apart but that's totally okay it's going to be extremely tasty in any way and they're recovering them and it smells incredibly tasty i think the final dish that she's making is the chili dip top [Applause] um something common that you'll see almost in all the dishes that we've made today this evening is turmeric powder as well as tomatoes and the fermented soybean those are essential seasoning ingredients in taiyai kitchen and the taiyaii cuisine oh okay oh i need and more chili's go in and i think that had some like foreign [Music] i got the chef orders the taste test the thumbs up from auntie juan oh oh yeah oh man that is kind of oily and so flavorful the tomatoes the chili's in there the umami of the fermented soybean in northern thailand you will find a dish called which is a minced pork tomato uh dip similar to this but i believe that this is the original version uh which comes from from cuisine culture i'm not totally sure all of the differences but you can see the similarities and how the northern thai version stems off of this off of this version of chili dip i think all the dishes are ready but before we start eating we're gonna walk back in the yard we're gonna get some vegetables that they have growing in their garden at their house they even have fish mica did you catch anything no not yet better keep trying few things are better than backyard homegrown vegetables oh beautiful coriander too [Music] hmm [Music] micah you got your first fish [Music] [Laughter] the double thumbs up she is a character i love her cooking style so home style so relaxed so laid back uh apart from the fish that they're gonna fry right now all the food is ready [Music] ah all the food is ready oh and micah's fish micah that's the first fish that you've ever caught and deep fried and you're gonna eat it and so we did ask aunties and everyone to join us eating but they're they're a little bit shy and they said they're not hungry now so they said you guys gotta eat you guys gotta eat so uh we are sitting down for this amazing home-cooked thai yai shan meal all right rice and actually i cannot wait to try those meatballs frog meatballs and so again the meatballs did sort of crumble but that is not gonna take away from their taste it's so aromatic they smell so good frog meatballs what could be cooler than frog meatballs okay and actually maybe just pick it up with my finger you can see the hint of yellow color from the turmeric in there the chili's in there the fermented soybean patty disc and the minced up frog wow oh that is that is outrageously tasty they're crispy and oily the minced frog you don't even feel the bone but maybe that just adds to the crunch the turmeric in there the chilies that has to have a boost of umami from the those uh those fermented soy beans the lemongrass in there the garlic that is a new level of meatball [Music] wow and they are spicy ball shape or crumbled or any shape that flavor is not compromised that is insanely tasty it's so good next up for the chicken curry which i cannot wait to taste uh when they dished it out then they put on a handful of the fresh coriander that we picked and they kind of simmered it down until most of the liquid is uh evaporated so it's formed like a kind of oily skin curry i mean the the skin boiled down so you can see that that oiliness but then all of that paste that she pounded up it's all condensed within the chicken and also because this is this is real deal free range yard chicken uh there's a lot of bones in it so you gotta work around alone oh man oh wow simmered until soft and tender get you you feel the texture of that free-running bird and the flavor of that curry the blend of both fresh spices the lemongrass in there is really really strong uh you've got the saltiness of the shrimp paste there's a little bit of the fermented bean disc in there it's so aromatic it's so fragrant it's so just like condensed chicken [Music] what stands out to me is the the fragrance the taste of the lemongrass in there everything pounded together everything mingled all those herbs all of the oils coming out of them to form just a an extremely succulent flavorful chicken curry okay and finally the tomato and minced pork dip chili dip with tomatoes with shallots in here lots of garlic the fermented bean discs again i think i'll try this with one of the lettuce that we just picked [Music] another amazing dish like from the oil from the pork from that paste and being like cooked down dry fried down it has an almost sticky texture to it the layering and the just the depth of flavor from the tomatoes to the fermented beans to the minced pork meat dip meat jam that's what it is a meat jam you can still evidently taste the thing the similarities between the northern thai tomato mint pork dip but this is the original oh yeah and also that you can see the yellow color um which comes from that splash of turmeric powder that she added as well [Music] chicken curry is just mind-blowingly flavorful the chili dip is sensational but i think what stands out the most to me are the frog meatballs which is kind of like a minced frog now uh that is just something unique something i've never had before uh a new form of frog [Music] and those burnt caramelized edges are just insane okay back to the chicken curry and yeah i like how all of that flavor has just condensed onto the chicken so it's not too saucy but i can assure you all of that flavor that she pounded is absorbed and stick and stuck and just glazed onto each piece of chicken okay is stand out about this meal is just you you know from tasting it that it's home cooking it's just like all good things you can imagine caramelized into a meat jam [Music] it might not be the the prettiest dish that you've ever seen but i can guarantee you that goes on the list of the world's greatest frog dishes it might be the immediate winner also that is just like let's just love that first bite without a doubt [Music] oh man that was an outstanding meal and it is a beautiful clear fresh air evening in mung bon village a huge thank you to kun kunpui who is our host here at the homestay for arranging this meal and i want to say a huge thank you for watching for sharing this dinner with me uh and a huge thank you to all the aunties for cooking and for their hospitality in this beautiful gorgeous place in me hongsan ah thank you for watching this video please remember to give it a thumbs up if you enjoyed it leave a comment below i'd love to hear from you and if you're not already subscribed click subscribe and also click the little bell icon so you'll immediately get notified of the next video that i publish thanks again for watching and i will see you on the next video

Channel: Mark Wiens

Views: 732,181

Keywords: Shan, Thai Yai, Shan food, Burmese food, Thai food, แม่ฮ่องสอน, Mae Hong Son, Mae Hong Son Thailand, ไทใหญ่, Village food, village food, village cooking, Mark Wiens, food videos, street food videos, Mae Hong Son food, best Shan food, Thai Yai food

Id: b6F0KojF5E0

Length: 27min 52sec (1672 seconds)

Published: Wed May 19 2021