Hey everyone good morning hope you're having an amazing day. It's mark wiens, i'm in the small village of mung pan, which is in me hong son province in northern thailand, on the border of myanmar, and this village is specifically a shan people or a taiyai. It's a beautiful morning and today is going to be a once in a lifetime food opportunity experience some of the aunties and some of the best cooks from the community have gathered at the house and they're going to make a massive 50 kilo pan of a dish Called ganghang lei, which is uh, it's actually a burmese curry. This is the curry.

You actually have to use a paddle to stir you and i were both going to be able to see the entire process from start to finish. All of the herbs, all of the spices, all of the ingredients that go into this curry and we're gon na watch as they cook it. You can see the pieces of pork belly starting to wobble, and i cannot wait to share this celebration of a meal with you in this video that sauce that curry sauce is actually drinkable. It could be bottled and sold as a beverage.

Oh man, i am getting excited. This is the basin of a wok that they're gon na be making the korean 50 kilos of curry hey. The gang hungley party is about to get started uh, but just to quickly show you this amazing shan tayyi shirt, the shan or in thailand called the taiyai are a large ethnic group people group and actually one of the largest minority groups in myanmar, originally from myanmar. Ah, but there are many or mini taiyai within thailand as well, especially in the northern provinces.

Uh bordering myanmar, we're getting started cooking right now, they're bringing out the pork there's gon na be 50 kilos of pork, all of the different spices there's so many ingredients that go into genghang lei. This traditional version, including dry spices, including fresh spices and there's also many different regional variations, and so this is going to be a real deal, ultra authentic celebration, curry, and that's it that's the very first shallot peeled. That's the start, and you can already tell that you can just trust the aunties of this community, their expertise, their knowledge they're just years and years of experience, another auntie is getting started. Peeling.

The garlic - and this is this is the best kind of garlic home grown right here and it just hangs from the rafters of the roofs drying. But this is the most fragrant. This is their little bulbs, uh little cloves of garlic, but the most fragrant and pungent garlic in the world and then additionally, there's going to be ginger, there's a whole bag of ginger and then potatoes potatoes are going to be added and then on the other side Of the kitchen here, uncle's getting started chopping up the pork, which is quite a fatty pork. Often often it can be uh pork belly.

I think it might be a mix, but yeah there's a lot of pork belly. You see a lot of skin there's a lot of fat on that park. I mean one of the reasons why genghang lei is such a important dish is because it's so time consuming to make and there's so many steps and there's so many ingredients, and so you can already see how long it takes. I mean to peel shallots, as well as to peel the small little bulbs of garlic uh.

It's a time consuming process. It takes the entire community and then i was just asking some of the aunties about uh when gang hungley is typically made and although you will find genghang at almost every single northern thai restaurant, traditionally it's a very special dish and even within this community, it is A very special dish, which is not eaten every day, but it is prepared. It is cooked only on big special, both celebration events, as well as gathering events for weddings for funerals for new year for other big occasions when everybody gets together to share a meal together. So today is an extremely special day: it's an honor to have a chance to be here to witness uh the community coming together to cook such a dish that that is so important within the culture um again.

Uh genghang is a burmese curry and they specifically are making the burmese version and it works. Oh man that is some serious anti-wisdom right. There cooking wisdom. She said uh.

She puts a a shallot at the tip, pokes it at the tip of the knife um, and that way you don't cry from the fumes of the of the shallot. That's what she said uh. I guess it works. That's something to try in your kitchen.

The aunties have decided that's enough garlic, that's enough shallots, they're, moving on to peeling the potatoes and the ginger, but then in the meantime, another auntie is going to go over to the other side of the kitchen, underneath the house and start to pound the curry paste. Okay, she's one of the most hilarious, aunties she's, just always smiling. Always joking she's been cooking for us almost every meal, while we're here - and she is one of the aunties who is responsible for the recipes for knowing the quantities and ingredients and there's no recipe. Here.

It's just about the knowledge, the experience and also about knowing the ratios. If there's this much chili in go this many shallots and go this much lemongrass this much and this much um and she just literally and now she's, just adding in some more shallots. So it's just by knowledge, it's just by experience, and i mean for me. I think that is by far the best type of cooking the eyeball and experience method, all right shrimp.

She said that her husband's mother, her mother-in-law, is shan from myanmar and she's, the one who taught her the recipe, and she does actually have a recipe. It's just in her head for every kilo of pork. Then she knows how to scale it and scale it up or scale it down, and then another thing that she said is that she used to. She knows so well and she's such an expert at making gang hungley because she used to sell it before and back at the preparation kitchen station uh serious amounts of ginger are being chopped up: julianned, okay, okay, all the preparation is almost all done.

They're still peeling more and more garlic, ah, but the pork, it's a small mountain of cubed pork. That's a mini bathtub sized wok! That's going to go over the fire, so the pork goes in first, i'm dead. Oh, this is the very interesting part of making gang hung. Lei is that the curry paste is not fried off? First, they have the pork she auntie added.

The curry paste that she pounded with is, which is heavy on the shrimp paste mixes, that in then the masala powder goes in mixes, that in and next she added some sugar and they are just kind of contemplating and auntie is just thinking about it in her Head how much of what to add, but again zero measurements, ani see you dumb cup, oh man, so even before the cooking, you can already smell the mingling of spices, the masala powder, the cumin in there, the turmeric in there uh. Yet blending with the soy sauce. Aroma blending with the shrimp paste the the harmony of india and southeast asia is already coming together in this pork in the wok in the pot. She has the coolest cooking style ever just tossing chucking ingredients in and it's going to start a long process of cooking.

Slowly, over fire mingling one - i believe that i just said uh curry, is very delicious. 50 kilos is too big for that wok, so they're gon na have to use two woks foreign batch number. Two is on the way. It's just fascinating to see this.

Like center point of a curry of a burmese curry that has uh indian influence that has even possibly yeah some chinese influence, but its own, unique curry, its own unique dish. Now that the sun has started to come out and the sun is strong, i have the honor of wearing a shan hat. Yes, okay! Now we are ready for this cooking session to begin it's gon na boil it's gon na simmer for the next six to eight hours and during that time uh they're gon na, i believe slowly nurture. It sometimes occasionally stir it, but also seal in those juices, and let that pork fat just melt and mingle so that it's ultra fall apart tender in your mouth when you eat it, my mouth is watering already and we still have eight hours to go.

Okay - and i think actually now would be a fantastic time uh to talk a little bit about the complicated and incredible history of gang hung, lei and where it comes from and the word genghang lei comes from burmese. That means strong, curry, i believe strong, curry or heavy curry strong flavored pork curry. Now, right now, if you go to any lana northern thai restaurant throughout northern thailand, you will find gang hung lei on the menu and it's probably the number one dish - that's associated with northern thailand and loved by everybody in northern thailand. So from what i read from what i have learned uh, it is often said that the burmese curry gang hyung lei was brought to northern thailand by the shan people uh, and i mean that's, i'm in ashan village now and so the thai or the shan are Responsible for bringing the burmese curry to northern thailand, where it's then spread out throughout northern thailand, where there's a variety of different recipes where uh different ingredients have been added or omitted and changed foreign okay, i'm then they sprinkled in the garlic all that raw, peeled garlic.

Uh, a bunch of raw shallots, a bunch of the julienned ginger, and that gets a nice stir, and that goes back on the simmer for many more hours, oh man, but that aroma is starting to become irresistible. Oh and potatoes also go in and then next uh. She mashed down some tamarind sour tamarind uh got out the juice of that tamarind and tamarind goes in. That's gon na give it a tart, sweet and sour taste as well.

My game, foreign, the pork is starting to get to that stage where they're in thai. They call it blai where it is like a braised to the point where it's fall apart, tender, but not mushy whatsoever, but has that texture that you need with gang hung? Lei, oh yeah, so some good news. It's been only two or three hours, but they said it's almost ready. Maybe the fire was extra stoked.

Today the smaller pot is ready and they said because the liquid has dried up. All of the fat has melted, but then re-entered into the pork braised into itself. That one they put into a pot so that can sit for later um and then the big pot is still cooking is still braising. They say it needs to the water needs to evaporate out.

Well. That hat was really comfortable, but i probably have some serious hat hair now uh, but the curry is ready. Everybody just divvied out their own portion onto their bowl of rice uncle is even eating it with khanom jin, uh, rice noodles, or we could call it kafsen here, uh, but then also come and eat with rice come and eat with noodles. He said uncle said with the the gravy that curry sauce with the noodles - it's really good as well.

Okay, so again, here we go burmese, curry burmese recipe and also this is a bit different from the northern thai other versions that i've seen in other parts of northern thailand just massive chunky pieces of pork. Some have the bones in like some of the ribs, but most of it is pork, belly, ultra tender potatoes in there julians of ginger and every now and then you'll come up on some cloves of garlic that were tossed in. I think the shallots have almost fully just dissolved into the curry. The sauce is oily and condensed.

Oh, i cannot wait wow. Oh, that is a beautiful thing. All that flavor is amazing. Oh wow, it just keeps on coming with the flavor the different layers, the tenderness, of that pork, i think, what's absolutely amazing - is that the first taste that i taste is the masala.

But then, after that, you taste the tangy sweetness the balance of the the tamarind and ginger and garlic the boost of umami from the shrimp paste. It's just like all the the great taste that your tongue could ever want all in one single ultra tender, melt-in-your-mouth, pork, curry, here's a bite! You can see next uh with ginger with garlic with some of the melted shallots. It has to be one of the most addictive curries because of the balance of flavor because of the the richness just the layering of flavors, that is just sensational, that is just a mind-blowing flavor, the belly, the skin, the fat. Oh this one! Actually, oh, that's actually.

Rib, i believe, that's what makes the pork so tender is when it's braised and cooked in its own liquid fat, curry god now we've got some juiciness, some curry, juiciness, oh wow, okay, the pork is melting, your mouth, but that gravy curry sauce is the highlight it. Could be bottled and sold as a beverage? It's so good as you continue eating throughout your meal. You just start to realize how rich and how heavy this curry is you're on turbo mode eating as fast as you can and then all of a sudden, you're like well, i need to slow down all of a sudden. Your bites are happening a little bit slower.

This is one of those dishes that, literally on your last bite, it's impossible to avoid a nap. Oh wow, that was an unbelievable celebration meal yeah. At this stage, everybody is full everybody's happy. Most of us are taking to a more reclined uh horizontal position.

Oh man and that's actually all you can do after eating gang hungley that was unbelievably spectacular and the original burmese version, so incredibly tasty and then. Lastly, the final step is all of the andes: are packaging the curry to then distribute throughout the community. Then i would just like to say a huge thank you to all of the aunties for really sharing with us a piece apart, an a part of the culture, a part of the identity and their own hospitality and just knowledge, and year after year of experience in Making lay and cooking and just incredible hospitality, amazing, aunties and uncles and the entire community of mongbon. They are truly the all-star team.

Oh yes, it is definitely hammock time that is gon na wrap up for sure. What is the best gang hung lei that i've ever had and it was such a huge educational. It was a learning experience for me every i can guarantee you that every time that i eat gang hung lei within northern thailand anywhere throughout thailand. I will remember this experience so again, a massive thank you to all of the aunties and the uncles and the entire community who came out to help uh and to share a piece of family and cultural history and culture with us and a big.

Thank you also to kunpuy, who is the owner of this house and her family who arranged this uh and who made this entire experience possible. Definitely if you're in hong kong and you want to learn about the shan culture. This is an amazing village, an amazing place to come. You can check them out, a link will be in the description box and i want to say a big thank you to 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 goodbye from me. Hong.