Or Lam

Ingredients

• 700g beef shin or brisket, cut into 3cm cubes
• 1.5 litres water
• 3 pieces sakhan (Lao chilli wood), cut into 5cm lengths, or 1 tsp Sichuan peppercorns plus 1 tsp black peppercorns
• 3 stalks lemongrass, bruised and halved
• 6 shallots, peeled and halved
• 8 garlic cloves, peeled
• 6 green bird's eye chillies
• 2 Asian aubergines, cut into chunks
• 150g pea aubergines, or 1 extra aubergine
• 150g long beans, cut into 5cm lengths
• 30g dried wood ear mushrooms, soaked and sliced
• 80g cooked sticky rice
• 50g dried buffalo skin or pork crackling, optional
• 2 tbsp padaek (Lao fermented fish sauce), or 2 tbsp anchovy paste
• 3 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 very large bunch dill, roughly chopped
• 1 handful Thai basil leaves
• 1 handful spring onions, sliced
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• sticky rice, to serve

Before you cook

• Soak the dried wood ear mushrooms in warm water for 20 minutes, then drain and slice them.
• Soak the dried buffalo skin in warm water for 30 minutes if you are using it, then cut it into strips.
• Char the shallots, garlic and green chillies in a dry pan over a high heat for 6 minutes until blackened in patches, then pound them to a rough paste in a mortar.
• Mash the cooked sticky rice with 100ml of water until it becomes a loose white slurry.
• Chop the dill roughly, stalks and all, since the stalks carry most of the flavour.

Steps

1. Heat the oil in a large heavy pot over a high heat.
2. Brown the beef cubes in two batches, giving each batch 4 minutes without stirring so a proper crust forms.
3. Return all the beef to the pot and pour in the water.
4. Add the sakhan pieces, the bruised lemongrass and the charred shallot paste.
5. Bring the pot to a boil and skim the surface.
6. Lower the heat and simmer, partly covered, for 50 minutes until the beef is tender but still holding its shape.
7. Stir in the padaek, fish sauce and salt.
8. Add the wood ear mushrooms and the buffalo skin, if using, and simmer for 10 minutes.
9. Add the aubergine chunks and pea aubergines and cook for 8 minutes.
10. Add the long beans and cook for 5 minutes more.
11. Pour in the mashed sticky rice slurry and stir it through the pot.
12. Simmer for 8 minutes, stirring often, until the broth thickens into a rough, spoonable stew.
13. Taste the broth, which should be savoury, faintly bitter and buzzing on the lips from the sakhan.
14. Take the pot off the heat and stir in the dill, basil and spring onions all at once.
15. Cover the pot for 2 minutes so the herbs wilt in the residual heat, then serve with sticky rice.