Akha Vegetable Soup (tsawdur dartseuq)
The staple of the Akha diet is dry-planted mountain rice, but there are a number of dishes that are uniquely “Akha”. A combination of five types of dishes may be served at a traditional formal meal: a fried dish (usually pork or chicken and vegetables), a boiled dish (a soup, sometimes vegetables, sometimes potatoes cooked with stewing bones), a pickled dish (any combination of vegetables which have been preserved through a pickling process), a crushed dish (a salsa created by combining chili peppers, tomatoes, cilantro and other unique ingredients by mortar and pestle), and a raw dish (raw vegetables used to dip in the salsa, and occasionally raw meats).
This image shows a typical Akha boiled vegetable soup. Made with a light leafy vegetable related to the pea family and minced pork. Other than the vegetables and meat, the only flavors added to the soup are chilies, salt, garlic and MSG. Eaten over rice.
