Or Lam

“Or Lam” ( เอาะหลาม ) is originally a stew that is typical of the Laotian provinces of Luang Prabang and Sayaburi. However, due to the fact that most of the inhabitants of Isaan in north-eastern Thailand have Laotian roots, Or Lam is also widespread in this Thai region. This stew is also known in the neighboring areas to Laos in northern Thailand.

The stew is made from a paste of crushed Thai eggplants, chillies, garlic, shallots and lemongrass and thickened with sticky rice or khao khua. The meat used is mainly buffalo meat or buffalo skin, but beef and pork or pork belly are also used.

Other Thai eggplants, bamboo shoots or mushrooms are often used as additional ingredients. Another important ingredient is “mai sakhaan”, a spice wood that is also known as “pepperwood” in English.

An Or Lam is further rounded off with Plaa Ra and fresh herbs such as dill, coriander, lemon basil or pumpkin leaves. Closely related to Or Lam is the north-east Thai version of Gaeng Om, which is, however, less thickened.

The name of this dish is made up of the words “Or” and “Lam”. “Or” ( เอาะ ) means thick and refers to the creamy consistency and “Lam” ( หลาม ) refers to the original method of preparation, in which this stew was cooked in thick bamboo tubes over an open fire.