Recipes

Laab (Thai Minced Pork Salad)

  • Serves

    serves 2-4

PENNY DE LOS SANTOS

In northeast Thailand and Laos, laab is made of minced meat lightly poached in broth, then dressed with chiles, fresh herbs, and roasted rice powder, and eaten with sticky rice. This recipe comes from chef Hong Thaimee of Ngam restaurant in New York City, and was published along with Naomi Duguid's article in our 150th issue.

What You Will Need

Ingredients

  • 13 cup canola oil
  • 3 tbsp. mashed garlic
  • 4 Thai chiles, stemmed and minced
  • 10 oz. ground pork
  • 1 tsp. crushed red chile flakes
  • 1 tsp. Chinese five-spice powder
  • 1 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
  • 1 tsp. kosher salt
  • 14 tsp. ground black pepper
  • 14 tsp. ground coriander
  • 14 tsp. ground cardamom
  • 2 tbsp. minced mint, plus more to garnish
  • 1 tbsp. minced scallions, plus more to garnish
  • 1 tbsp. minced cilantro, plus more to garnish
  • 2 tsp. fish sauce
  • Thinly sliced kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass, shallots, cucumbers, and cherry tomatoes to garnish

Instructions

Step 1

Heat oil in a 12" skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and chiles, and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add pork, chile flakes, five-spice, nutmeg, salt, pepper, coriander, and cardamom, and cook, stirring, until pork is browned, about 2 minutes. Stir in mint, scallions, cilantro, and fish sauce, and cook until pork is done, about 4 minutes.

Step 2

Transfer to a large serving bowl, and top with scallions, cilantro, kaffir leaves, lemongrass, shallots, mint, cilantro, cucumbers, and tomatoes. Serve at room temperature.
Thai Minced Pork Salad (Laab)
Thai Minced Pork Salad (Laab)

In northeast Thailand and Laos, laab is made of minced meat lightly poached in broth, then dressed with chiles, fresh herbs, and roasted rice powder.

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