Vinai's Yia Vang on Building Texture and Crunch in Hmong Cuisine

“In Hmong cooking, a lot of dishes may seem soft or have a lack of texture. At times what creates texture is the cartilage or shells on some of the proteins we eat. For example, deep-fried shrimp with the shell on lends a delicious textural crunch when eating the whole shrimp. Another is pig ears. The cartilage that’s part of the ears’ interlining adds a beautiful crunch when the ears are mixed in a laab. Other...