About this recipe
A warm salad of minced chicken seasoned with lime, fish sauce, chili and toasted rice powder, brightened with a generous handful of fresh herbs. Larb is widely documented as Lao in origin and central to Lao identity, embraced across Isan; this is the Isan-style chicken version. It is presented as a shared Tai-Lao tradition.
Recipe facts
- Yield
- 4 as a shared dish
- Prep
- 15 minutes
- Cook
- 10 minutes
- Total
- 25 minutes
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Spice
- Hot (adjustable)
Allergens Contains fish (fish sauce). Gluten-free. Dairy-free. Adaptable to other proteins.
Development draft. This is an untested development recipe from the cookbook project. It has not been kitchen-tested, and the quantities and timings are the author’s working draft rather than a verified result.
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Ingredients
- 1 lb (450 g) ground chicken
- 2 tbsp (20 g) uncooked glutinous rice, toasted and ground to a coarse powder (khao khua)
- 3 tbsp (45 ml) fresh lime juice
- 2–3 tbsp (30–45 ml) fish sauce
- 1–2 tsp (2–4 g) toasted chili flakes (phrik pon), to taste
- 3 shallots, thinly sliced
- 3 green onions, sliced
- 1/2 cup (15 g) mint leaves
- 1/2 cup (15 g) cilantro, chopped (and culantro if available)
- 2–3 tbsp (30–45 ml) water or stock (to cook the chicken)
Equipment
- Skillet or wok
- Dry pan for toasting rice
- Mortar or spice grinder
Method
- Toast the glutinous rice in a dry pan over medium heat until deep golden; cool and grind to a coarse powder.
- Cook the ground chicken in a pan with a splash of water, breaking it up, until just cooked through and no longer pink.
- Take off the heat and let it cool for a minute so the herbs won't wilt to nothing.
- Season with lime juice, fish sauce and chili flakes.
- Fold in the shallots, green onions, herbs and most of the toasted rice powder.
- Taste and adjust — it should be sharply sour, salty and hot, with a nutty backbone. Top with the remaining rice powder.
Uses from this chapter
- Nam Pla Prik (Fish Sauce with Chilies) (Condiments — C04) — Optional at the table for extra salt and heat; larb is self-dressed.
From the foundations
The book pairs this recipe with the following, from the sauces, sambals and pastes that open the collection.
The Complete Edition
Larb Gai (Minced Chicken Salad) sits in the Thailand chapter
The book carries this recipe in full alongside the rest of the Thailand chapter, the pastes and dips it is built on, and the twenty-seven pantry studies that open the collection.
Available from Amazon
- Kindle edition — $9.99 (Kindle Store price) — available now
- Paperback — $49.99 (print list price) — available now