Today’s Special: Ketkeo’s Khao Poon

Ketkeo Rajachack learned to make khao poon from her mother to sell from an open-air tent in Laos. Now she cooks and sells the dish at her Temple Street restaurant, Pho Ketkeo.

The fish and coconut soup is usually reserved for special occasions, like her daughter’s wedding six years ago. Rajachack catered the first half of the wedding and almost definitely served khao poon to the guests, according to Rajachack’s daughter, Christine Son.

“I was probably too busy to eat it, because I can’t remember it. Everything is a blur. And you have to make sure you fit in the dress, so there’s no eating that day,” Son recalled.

Take-out and delivery orders will prove crucial to the ability of local restaurants like Pho Ketkeo to weather the pandemic during the coming months as Covid-19 cases climb and cold weather sets in. Call ahead at (203) 745‑5480 to order pick-up, or order delivery of dishes like the khao poon through Grubhub or Uber Eats. The restaurant is open Tuesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Delivery cuts off at 9:30 p.m. and the restaurant closes between 3:30 p.m. and 5 p.m. during the week days.

As a child in Laos, Rajachack would wake up between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. Each of the nine siblings had their own role in the household, depending on their age. One sibling would cook rice and another would get water before school started at 8 a.m.

Rajachack would help her parents pick up ingredients from the local market, and she would help her mother cook. Sometimes she was the one manning the family’s tent, grilling bananas as a dessert for customers. This is how Rajachack learned to make khao poon.

Rajachack’s mother, Chanh, passed away a few months ago. Because of the pandemic, Rajachack was unable to visit her in Laos this year. She still has the signature dish to make.

Fish-Based But Not Fishy

Rajachack said that most Laotian cooks make khao poon the same way, with different preferences for ingredient amounts or the order of the steps.

Rajachack starts her version by boiling white fish like tilapia with anchovy sauce, salt and fresh herbs like kaffir lime leaves. Then she takes the fish meat out of the broth and crushes it until it looks like ground meat.

The ground fish goes into an oil that will flavor the broth. She fries the pastes in the oil and then puts them into the broth with coconut milk. The final touches are rice noodles, shredded cabbage, bean sprouts, banana flour, mint and cilantro.

“An experienced cook making it takes a few hours. If you’re new, it could be a whole-day thing,” Son said.

Shredding the ingredients is part of what takes so long, Son said.

“A lot of people like to joke that Laotian cooking is like preparing for Thanksgiving dinner every night,” Son said.

I ordered Rajachack’s khao poon with mango bubble tea and a medium bowl of pho with meatballs, tendon, tripe, sliced beef for my partner, who craves pho at least once a week.

Kevin Vazquez (pictured above) prepared my bubble tea while Son and Rajachack disappeared into the kitchen to box up my noodle soup orders.

Pho Ketkeo has been running on a skeleton crew since sales dropped with the Covid-19 pandemic. The pandemic has also been tough for Rajachack personally. A vandal attacked her car in April, and she was mugged and beaten in the Temple Street Garage two months later.

Rajachack’s arm still hurts from the mugging, and she still gets headaches from time to time. But Rajachack does not want to take additional time off work. She remains in the kitchen.

I always like Pho Ketkeo’s mango bubble tea. It’s not too sweet, unlike at other bubble tea shops I’ve been to.

What shocked me though is how much I liked the khao poon. Despite being a fish soup, it does not taste fishy.

In my first bites, the sour-sweet lime taste stood out. Then I started to notice the silky sweetness of the noodles, the little kick of spice in the back of my throat, and the savory warmth of the broth. I could not taste the fish at all. And the coconut milk made the soup creamy without being heavy.

It reminded me of Singaporean laksa, but I liked this version better. Days later, I’m still rolling the memory of the taste around in my mouth and wanting to try it again.

Previous coverage of recommended take-orders to help keep local businesses survive the pandemic:

• Today’s Special: Haci’s Napoletana Pie
• Today’s Special: Fred & Patty’s Brie On Baguette
• Today’s Special: Nieda’s Moist Falafel
• Today’s Special: Qulen’s Vegan ​“Wings”
• Today’s Special: Aaron’s Peruvian Rice Bowl
• Today’s Special: Singh Bros.’ Chana Kulcha
• Today’s Special: Grandma’s Chicken Soup
• Today’s Special: Woody’s Steak & Shrimp
• Today’s Special: Shilmat’s Yemisir Sambusa
• Today’s Special: Arjun’s Vegetarian Manchurian
• Today’s Special: Mohammed’s Bhel Poori
• Today’s Special: Francesco’s Tortelli
• Today’s Special: Seikichi’s Sushi