Laab
Laab is a common North-Eastern / Laotian food being cooked in Laos and North Eastern province of Thailand. When people migrate, they bring their food with them. Now laab and several Laotian food has become popular all over Thailand. And I love them. They are all prickly hot that you will get tears and runny nose. It's not a good manner to blow our noses on the dining table, but with this kind of food you are
forgiven.
These are the ingredients you need for 300 grams of
leftovers:
The leftover meat -- turkey, chicken, beef, anything --
cooked or uncooked -- cut or chopped into small pieces.
Ground meat is good.
1/8 cup white rice, uncooked (look for Thai Hom-Mali rice)
1/4 cup lime or lemon juice (approx. one large lime)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/8 cup Thai fish sauce (use Tipparot or Oyster brand)
1/4 - 1/2 cup dried chilli pepper
(substitute with powdered paprika if needed)
1/4 cup green onion, chopped
1/2 cup red onion, chopped
a few mint leaves and shallot for decoration
Fresh vegetables such as long beans, cucumber, cabbage or lettuce.
1/2 cup water
Instruction:
First you have to prepare the rice by roasting it in a
non-stick pan. Keep tossing until it releases a little
fragrance. Set aside. When cooled, grind.
Then you prepare the dried chilli pepper the same way.
Where a mask and/or goggle to protect your eyes. (If you
cannot find the dried chilli, use powdered paprika instead.
You can look for an Asian store near you and ask for a Thai
"prik pon" as well.)
In a sauce pan, put water and uncooked meat. Stir-fry until
half-done. If you are using cooked meat, just heat it in the
pan. Only add water if it's dry up.
Add the roasted rice and chilli pepper. Stir.
Add red onion. Keep stirring. When everything seems to
be cooked (which should take only a minute), add the green
onion. Mix well. Remove from heat.
Add lime juice and all the seasonings. (If you are using
lemon juice, put less sugar). Mix well. Check the taste.
It should be sour and salty.... a little hot with the
refreshing smell of the roasted rice. You could add lime
juice or fish sauce until it tastes right.
The mixture should look dry but juicy.
Now you can garnish it with shallot, mint leaves and some
green onions. Serve with vegetables. Eat as an apetiser or
eat with cooked rice to reduce the spicy taste.
This recipe is good with ground beef with a little fat.
In some regions people put blood and liver too. Actually if
you use cooked meat, the food is called "Namtok". And we
normally eat it with steamed sticky rice, which is the
common food in the region -- same as Westerners might eat
their food with potatoes.
Now the tip is you don't really have to prepare all the
roasted rice and chilli and etc. Just go to an Asian shop
near you. Go to Thai section and look for a "Laab - Namtok
Seasoning Mix". Lobo brand makes a good one. You don't need to add any seasoning at all. Just stir the meat in the pan
with a little water, add onion -- and that's it.
You can make Tom Yam with any meat... chicken, beef, pork,
prawns, dumpling, seafood... even mushrooms. The most favorite of all are the fresh water King prawn (with its yellow fat), seafood, or chicken. Remember if you are using seafood, you'll have to boil them separately before adding them to the soup. And do not over cook them. A big squid can turn to be (and taste) like a tiny rubber band if you do.
Now the ingredients:
A little tiny bit of lemon grass (the stem part, not the
leaves), citrus leaves, and galangal (it looks like ginger,
but it's not ginger. Do not use ginger if you cannot find it)
(One or two each is enough. We don't really eat them. Only for the aroma/oil).
Some small onions, small not too ripe tomatoes (try to get
the egg-shaped kind), limes (the ones that look like small
tangerines -- green), sugar, chillies, and fish sauce (use
Thai's Tiparot or Oyster brand... buy the smaller bottle).
Lemons can be used if you cannot find the limes. Replace fish sauce with salt. No soy sauce or vinegar allowed.
Lots of straw mushrooms, and meat of your choice (vegetarians can only make a Tom Yam with mixed mushroom... that's great too). Don't put shitake mushroom as the fragrance is too strong.
How to cook:
Boil water.
Cut and beat the lemon grass (with your rolling pin... may be)
slightly until it's bruised, tear 2-3 citrus leaves, make few
sliced pieces of galangal and put them all together in the
boiling water.
In the meantime grill the onions and tomatoes for 2 minutes,
if you have a charcoal stove/griller, use it.
The grilled onions and tomatoes now can join their friends in
the pot (put them in whole... don't cut).
Put mushrooms, the chicken, king prawns, or pre-boiled
seafood. Simmer till all cooked.
Bring to taste -- Do not put the lime juice in the pot.
Here to:
In the serving bowl, mix the lime juice, fish sauce, sugar,
and chillies (beat them, bruise them, cut them ... the more
bruised, the more spicy) to taste. It 's supposed to be a well
blended of sour, sweet, spicy and salty tastes with sourness
(sourness?) being the leader. Make the taste much stronger
than how you'd like. Now pour the soup in the bowl. Voila...
you got the clear type of Tom Yam.
If you'd like the thick type, put Thai chilli paste before the
tomatoes and put half to one cup fresh milk after the meat.
How to eat it (as if it's a problem):
Best with steamed rice. You can even put macaroni, or any kind of noodles in the soup. It's then called "Macaroni Tom Yam" or "Noodle Tom Yam", etc.
I used to try bread. Sorry to say it's not good.
More:
"Tom Yam" the faster and easier way:
Get a "Knorr" Tom Yam cube from a Thai Grocery store (there are few other brands, but I found Knorr's the best) and...
Boil 1-2 liter of water, add 2 cubes, put chicken. When the
chicken is cooked, dump in the straw mushrooms. And done.
You can fix the taste or put milk at this point.
Don't forget,
If you are using seafood, you'll have to boil the seafood
seprately and put the almost-cooked meat after the mushroom is cooked. This is to prevent the stingy smell of the seafood :-)
Wait.... Did I mention the Thai Chilli paste somewhere up
there?
You can get a jar of this from any Asian grocer. (Look for
"Chilli Paste for Tom Yam" label). If you really like to make
one... let's see...
You'll need a spoonful of chopped garlic, some salt, whole
black peppercorns, coarsely chopped fresh coriander (use
leaves, stems, and roots) and some sugar syrup with lime
juice.
Crush the garlic with salt until the mix becomes paste. Roast
the peppercorns in a dry pan for a minute or two. I don't
suppose you have a Thai food crusher. Just use your blender.
Put everything in the blender, add lime juice and syrup, and
blend it until the mix becomes fine paste. Add water if needed.
It's called chilli paste and we really use chilli in the mix.
But I guess it's going to be too HOT for those who're not used to it. Oh you can lighter the heat by frying the chillies with the peppercorn before blending. You can try.
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