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Laab ลาบหมู (ground pork and mint salad)
- Yield: Serves 2
Ingredients
- 1.5 Tbsp white glutinous rice or jasmine rice *
- 2 Tbsp water
- 250 g/9 oz ground meat or crumbled firm tofu
- 3 Tbsp finely sliced shallot
- ¼ cup mint, rough chopped if leaves are large
- 2 Tbsp cilantro, rough chopped
- 1 Tbsp green onion, chopped
- 2-3 leaves sawtooth coriander, rough chopped
- 2 Tbsp fish sauce
- 2 Tbsp lime juice
- Chili flakes to taste
Serve with sticky rice (see recipe) and fresh crunchy vegetables such as long beans, cabbage and cucumber.
Recipe Notes:
* This makes a little bit more than you might need, but it's nice to have extra in case you feel like you want to add more at the end. You can keep any extra for about a week in a tightly sealed container or ziplock bag.
** If you cannot find sawtooth coriander (also known as culantro), you can leave it out.
Instructions
Make toasted rice powder: Put glutinous white rice or jasmine rice in a dry sauté pan and cook over medium high heat, moving it constantly, until a deep brown colour develops. Grind with a coffee grinder or in a mortar and pestle into a sand-like texture.
Cook the pork in a small pan with 2 Tbsp water, stirring constantly until it’s fully cooked. Remove from heat.
Using the pot as your mixing bowl, add shallots into the pork and stir to break up the rings and lightly wilt the shallots.
Add the fish sauce, lime juice, 1.5 Tbsp of the toasted ground rice, chili powder, mint, cilantro, sawtooth coriander and green onion into the pot and stir to mix. Taste and adjust to your liking.
Feel free to garnish with some mint leaves and fried dried chilies. Serve with some fresh crunchy vegetables and sticky rice, see recipe!
Mark
Usually I make this with ground pork but my Thai friend said she likes it better when made with chicken. So today I used chicken thigh that I chopped as finely as possible. In my opinion this is great using chicken too!
★★★★★
Caleb
Great recipe. Left out the sawtooth coriander and subbed a small onion for shallot. Also went a little lighter on the fish sauce.
★★★★★
Jules Ford
This is such an amazing recipe and so easy to take it vegan. I either use soy curls or prepared plant-based chopped chick'n and cannot believe how crazy amazing this tastes. Thanks for my new go-to! Your entire site/channel is fantastic. Super grateful for your expert tips.
★★★★★
Trihawk
A fan of your site... reading from Thailand =)
Yes, never thought laab was so easy to make. Then, again, living here I just go down the road and order. But thanks to this covid thing, I started to cook again.
I love herbs and spices. So, I would add some lemon grass and a few kaffir/lime leaves. I also added some basil on top of the ones you had. Added extra shallot/red onions =)
And have you tried to roll it into round balls (like meatballs) and fry them (can use airfryer). Laab moo tod! Great beer food. =)
★★★★★
Anji Perkins
Excellent recipe- we used to live in Thailand and have been making Laab Gai since but this recipe is really authentic- love it!!
★★★★★
Futile Resistance
Fantastic, and cheap quick meal. Prefer it with lamb than pork, however but you can laab anything
★★★★★
Mark
I make this twice a month since I've learned how easy this is to prepare.
Today I mixed it with pasta and it was great!
Stephen Chan
Have been making this on my rotation on a regular basis, I love you saying "it makes me mad when I hear Americans say Larb with the rolling tongue"🤣 For a couple of times, after grinding the rice powder I just left it in the grinder and forgot to put that in, and it tasted like something missing, then I found out, it's really the key. And you know what, I got myself a pot of mint primarily for having fresh mint leaves whenever I need.
★★★★★
Robert
Great party dish. It can be made in advance and served at room temperature. Traditionally served with sticky rice, I serve it with taco chips at a party. It packs a kick if you make it spicy, but can be toned down, if need be. Don't skip the toasted rice powder, it's key.
★★★★★