Larb Gai
Ground chicken, lime, mint, toasted rice powder and chile.
Maui's an app that plans a whole week of dinners like this one. See how it works ↓
Toasted rice powder is what makes larb taste like larb. Six minutes in a dry skillet, until it's the color of coffee, then crushed coarse - and it's worth making extra, because it keeps in a jar for two weeks.
Ingredients
Everything below makes 4 servings.
- 1¼ lbground chicken
- 3 tbspuncooked jasmine or sticky rice (for toasted rice powder)
- 3 mediumshallotsthinly sliced
- 3scallionsthinly sliced
- ½ cupfresh mintleaves only, torn if large
- ½ cupfresh cilantrochopped
- 4 tbspfish sauce
- 5 tbspfresh lime juice
- 2 tspThai or red chile flakes
- 1 tbspbrown sugar
- 12butter or romaine lettuce leavesseparated, washed, dried
- 1½ cupsjasmine ricerinsed
In the app these rescale to however many people you're feeding.
Nutrition
Per serving, as written.
- 280calories
- 30gprotein
- 10gcarbs
- 12gfat
Swaps move these numbers. A different protein or base changes them.
Instructions
Knife work first, then the stove. Nothing below asks you to chop while something burns.
- Start rice.
- Slice shallots and scallions thin. Pick mint; chop cilantro. Juice limes.
- Wash and dry lettuce leaves.
Toasted rice powder
Toast the uncooked rice in a dry skillet over medium heat 5-6 min, stirring, until deep golden brown - like coffee, not blond. Cool, then grind to a coarse powder in a mortar or spice grinder. This is khao khua; it's the texture that makes larb larb.
6 min · hands onCook chicken
In the large skillet over medium-high, add ground chicken with 1/3 cup water - no oil. Break up with the spatula. Cook 5-6 min until water evaporates and the meat is no longer pink. Cooking in water (not oil) is traditional and keeps it loose, not browned.
6 min · hands onDress off heat
Pull skillet off heat. Stir in fish sauce, lime juice, chile flakes, and brown sugar; toss to coat. Taste and push it - larb should be aggressively sour and salty, not polite. Let cool 2 minutes (you want warm, not hot).
2 min · hands onToss in herbs and serve
Add shallots, scallions, mint, cilantro, and the toasted rice powder. Toss gently. Taste - should be sour-salty-hot-aromatic in equal weight. Plate with lettuce cups and rice on the side; eat by wrapping a spoonful in lettuce.
2 min · hands onMake it yours
Every swap here is one Maui already knows how to make, including what it does to the timing.
Treat same as chicken.
Pork releases fat; drain after browning if pooling.
Press 10 min, crumble, sear until golden. Saves about 2 minutes.
Pulse cremini or king oyster mushrooms in processor; cook 4 min to drive off water.
What keeps
Cooked chicken holds 3 days. The dressing (lime and fish sauce and chile) and the herbs go in fresh per serving - the lime turns bitter overnight, and mint goes black.
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