In the past I’ve posted about laab before but it’s one of my favorite asian dishes so I thought I’d take new photos and share my process a little differently.

Laab is a spicy chicken, beef, pork, or fish dish usually eaten with lettuce and/or rice.  The main spices used to create the flavor are: hot peppers, lemon grass, ginger, galanga, and roasted uncooked white rice.  It can be time consuming chopping and roasting the rice and all and sometimes I don’t mind doing that but when I’m short on time or I’m just craving laab way too much, I reach for the seasoning mix.  You can buy this mix at pretty much any Asian market.

Fresh ingredients.  Top clockwise: chopped mint leaves, chopped cilantro, thinly sliced shallots, chopped scallions and limes.  I tend to add more lime juice in mine than necessary.  One lime should be enough for 1 lb. of meat but I used two.

Boiled chicken.  Allow the cooked chicken to cool a little before chopping it up to small pieces.  You can also use ground chicken (or other ground meats) and sautee in a pan with a bit of vegetable oil.  I prefer it boiled because it’s healthier and less oily.

Use a pestle to mash it.  I do it directly in the bowl where all the ingredients will go in.

Add the laab mix, the herbs, squeeze in the lime juices, and add a teaspoon or two of fish sauce (not shown).  I also add a tablespoon of reserved chicken broth so that it’s not too dry.

Mix well and done.

This is a very spicy salad so have it with a large glass of water.