tamarind sauce. Pu cha – a mixture of cooked crab meat, pork, garlic and pepper, deep fried inside the crab shells and served with a simple spicy sauce, such as Sriracha sauce, sweet-hot garlic sauce, nam phrik phao (roasted chilli paste), nam chim buai (plum sauce), or in a red curry paste, with chopped green onions. It is sometimes also served as deep fried patties instead of being fried in the crab shell. Som tam – grated green papaya salad, pounded with a mortar and pestle, similar to the Laotian and Isan Tam mak hoong. There are three main variations There are three main variations: Som tam with peanuts, dried shrimp and palm sugar, Som tam pu with pickled rice-paddy crab, and Som tam pla ra with salted gourami fish, white eggplants, fish sauce and long beans. Som tam is usually eaten with sticky rice but a popular variation is to serve it with Khanom chin (rice noodles) instead. Yam – general name for many different kinds of sour Thai salads, such as those made with glass noodles (yam wunsen), with seafood (yam thale), or grilled beef (yam nuea). The dressing of a "yam" will normally consist of shallots, fish sauce, tomato, lime juice, sugar, chilies and Thai celery (khuenchai), or coriander. Yam pla duk fu – crispy fried catfish with a spicy, sweet-and-sour, green mango salad. Northeastern shared dishes Ahan Isan (; lit. "Isan food") generally features dishes similar to those found in Laos, as Isan people historically have close ties with Lao culture and speak a language that is generally mutually intelligible with the Lao language. The staple food of Isan is glutinous rice and most of the Isan food is spicy and cooked with local ingredients found on the farms all through northeastern Thailand. Isan people primarily get their income from farming. Rice, sugar cane, pineapple, potato, and rubber are all farmed in this region. Kaeng khae hoi (snail curry) – Kaeng khae hoi or kaeng khao khua hoi requires the same ingredients as kaeng khae except for using snails instead of chicken. Roasted ground rice thickens the liquid. Lap kai – Lap kai requires minced chicken meat and fresh chicken blood mixed with chili paste for lap made from roasted dried chilies and spices. It is usually eaten with a variety of vegetables and herbs that are pungent known as "phak kap lap". Lap dip refers