Stuffed Small Birds

• 5 small birds (nok noi, a Lao term which means any small birds)—pluck, singe, wash and gut them, then sprinkle salt and ground black pepper on them
• minced pork, including some fat, a quantity the size of a small tangerine

Put the pounded ingredients and the minced pork in a bowl and mix them; then add salt, fish sauce and ground black pepper and mix again, thoroughly. Taste and check the saltiness, then add the chopped spring onion. Mix this with the other ingredients.

Stuff the mixture into the cleaned birds, wrap them in pieces of banana leaf and secure the packages with bamboo or coco