"As the French colonised Lao, this appears to be a Lao take on French toast. My gran used to make this for breakfast when I was a child and it was called ‘koa chee falung’ – literally translating to mean ‘French bread’. To be honest, I’m unsure if it’s popular in Lao or if it was just popular in my family. Whatever the case, it is soft, pillowy and delicious." – Sam Sempill.

Serves 2–3

Ingredients

3-4 cups slightly cooled, freshly steamed glutinous rice (refer to page 27)

3 large eggs

A generous pinch of salt and white pepper

1/2 tsp fish sauce

Soy sauce to serve

Allow 2 tbsp vegetable oil for shallow pan-frying

Method

Beat the eggs in a bowl with the fish sauce, salt and pepper. Set aside.

Shape the glutinous rice into a loose ball and gently flatten with the palm of your hands.

Heat the oil in a frying pan on a medium to high heat. Once the pan is heated, coat the rice in the egg mixture and fry both sides for a couple of minutes until golden brown and the egg is cooked.

Remove from the heat and drizzle with soy sauce.

Note: don’t over-handle the rice or apply too much pressure otherwise the rice will be dense.

Sam Sempill’s Eat Lao (RRP $48, Melbourne Books) is out now through great Victorian book stores such as Readings.