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 gon na cook for us a home style, taiyai shan meal. I love her her air slicing, there's gon na be chicken curry, there's gon na be an auntie who specializes in a in a sean, donut dessert, she's gon na make that i'm very excited to be here. It's an honor, i'm gon na 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 gon na 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, 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 foreign, ah foreign. That means very delicious.

I'm gon na 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. She then transfers over and deep fries them, and that's just straight oil she's gon na 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 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 gon na be amazing. I'm gon na 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 gon na take. I think they've already been pre-boiled or blanched she's gon na 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 is 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 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, 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 gon na walk back in the yard.

We're gon na 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, hmm micah! You got your first fish, 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 gon na fry right now, all the food is ready. 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 gon na 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 got ta eat, you guys got ta 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 gon na 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 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 got ta 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. 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. 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. 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 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. 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.

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.