Coconut

The coconut, mak phao, occupies a place of primary importance in Lao cookery, and provides a range of products which need to be carefully distinguished.

First, there is the liquid which you can hear slopping about inside a coconut before it is opened. It is normally used for the preparation of soft drinks—it is very refreshing if drunk just as it comes, but may also be mixed with other fruit juices—rather than in cookery. The Lao name for it is nam mak phao.