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Larb Gai (ລາບໄກ່) – Lao Chicken Salad with Herbs
Larb gai is the chicken version of the Lao national dish. You chop thighs by hand and cook them in a broth of lemongrass, galangal and padaek. Lime juice and toasted chili powder make the salad sour and hot, and freshly toasted sticky rice gives it bite and a nutty scent. Mint and cilantro go in generously. In Laos you eat larb gai with sticky rice from a bamboo basket and crunchy vegetables.
Larb Gai (ລາບໄກ່) – Lao Chicken Salad with Herbs
Laura Chen
4
20 minutes
20 minutes
250
Lao
Main course
For Lao-style larb gai, you use hand-chopped chicken thighs, padaek, galangal and toasted sticky rice. The Thai laab gai usually comes without padaek and with chicken breast. With lemongrass, this version tastes fresher than larb moo and goes with sticky rice and raw vegetables.
Ingredients
- 500 g boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- 60 ml water
- 3 tbsp raw sticky rice
- 1 stalk lemongrass, pale part only, very finely chopped
- 2 cm galangal (Thai ginger), very finely chopped
- 1 tbsp padaek (Lao fermented fish sauce with pieces of fish)
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 4 tbsp lime juice
- 2 tsp toasted chili powder
- 3 shallots, in thin rings
- 3 scallions, sliced into rings
- 20 g mint, leaves picked
- 15 g cilantro, roughly chopped
To serve:
- 8 lettuce leaves
- 4 yardlong beans (long green beans), in 8 cm pieces
- Steamed sticky rice, to taste
Instructions
- Toast the raw sticky rice in a dry pan over medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes until golden brown, let it cool and grind it coarsely in a mortar.
- Cut the thighs into strips and chop them with a heavy knife for 5 minutes, until finely minced.
- Bring the water to a boil in a pan with the lemongrass, galangal and padaek.
- Add the chicken and cook it, stirring, for 6 minutes, breaking it up, until white all the way through.
- Take the pan off the heat, let the meat cool for 3 minutes and mix in the lime juice, fish sauce, chili powder and shallots.
- Fold in the rice powder, mint, cilantro and scallions and adjust until sour, salty and hot are in balance.
- Serve the larb gai with lettuce leaves, yardlong beans and sticky rice.
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