Laotian Shrimp Curry & Bamboo Shoot Salad

This dish (Gang keo goung) calls for a Laotian all-purpose curry paste called Kore -- or in a pinch, a store-bought Thai curry paste. Since this dinner was a little involved, I decided against making Kore, and instead added some of its ingredients to a Thai curry paste: freshly grated galangal, finely chopped kaffir lime leaves, and some sweet Indian curry powder.

Apparently, Laotian food sometimes makes use of Indian curry powder, which I've never seen in Thai food. This struck me as a bit odd, since Thailand is closer to India than Laos -- but perhaps there are some historical, cultural ties there somewhere...

Laos frequently uses dill in their seafood (it is sometimes referred to as Laotian coriander (leaves -- ie., cilantro)). It's never cooked, but just added as a garnish. This is a great idea -- it is a great addition to a spicy seafood curry. Only problem, in all the excitement, I forgot to chop it up... An excellent dish. Oh, and I put some plain, boiled rice in the bowl -- traditionally, this dish is eaten by dipping sticky lumps of rice into the soup, but that didn't strike me as very practical...
 
"Kang soh" turned out to be the perfect side dish for this curry. It has a very fresh taste from lime juice and fish sauce, with a smoky counterpoint from toasted sesame seeds (in fairness, I toasted them a little too much, but when I do this again, I'll toast them exactly the same amount again, because it worked just right), along with toasted shallot and garlic, strips from half a de-seeded and de-veined chili, scallions and cilantro. It doesn't look like much, but the flavor was a perfect match for the curry.

Finally, I made some dessert crêpes with an apple caramel sauce and whipped cream. I found my savory crêpes didn't taste of anything much at all, so I wanted to make sure these had an actual flavor of their own to contribute. I didn't have an exact recipe, so I just followed a savory crêpe recipe, used less salt, and added sugar and vanilla extract. They turned out great. I'm thinking of crêpes kinda like wine -- if it doesn't taste good on its own, you shouldn't be cooking with it.

I made the crêpes and the sauce the night before. The sauce consisted of water, brown sugar, diced apples and cinnamon, simmered until soft, buzzed with an immersion blender -- and a bit of lemon juice. I added some strips of fresh apple (to offset the sweetness of the sauce), whipped cream and crumbled ginger snap cookies for some crunch.

This went over real well, but I think I'll reserve it for a night when I'm not cooking the main course...