Laab Gai for your favorite Guy or Gal

This recipe I've probably talked about many times but for those of you who may be unfamiliar it is a Thai spicy minced chicken salad that is usually served warm or cold with lettuce or cabbage. It's a go-to any time our family is testing the Thai waters at a new restaurant, along with the red curry, of course. And perhaps a papaya salad. If the restaurant makes tod mun (fish cakes) then we at least have a clue that it is authentic, at the very least.

One of the very first meals I ever made for Tsu when we first started dating was this. I made laab, papaya salad and red curry chicken, along with spicy nam prik just to show off a little. I mean, why not? If you can do it, flaunt it. He never misses an opportunity to blow my mind with his cooking and I'm so glad I opted to do the same the first time I ever cooked for him. 

Pretty sure it sealed the deal. lol! He was so impressed that I think it sparked an instant rekindling of his own food passions at a time when we were both feeling pretty low from our respective divorces. 

If you don't think food can bring some magic... you best think again. It became our love language before we knew like we knew we were a match made in Heaven. 

So when it came time for his birthday extravaganza this year, this was the request he made. He wanted exactly the same thing and I was tickled to oblige.

If you are in a pinch for time, any weeknight, this could be an easy, quick meal to prepare or even prepare a day ahead if you know your week is a bit tight. He asked me for a double batch and I ended up make nearly 3 lbs of laab. Hilarious, really, but it is an excellent salad served either warm or cold and we quite like it served chilled. Leftovers have time to meld and the flavors just become really wonderful.

Let's get to the magic, shall we? 

Ingredients:

• 1 lb of minced meat of your choice (we like pork or chicken but beef is great, too)
• Juice of fresh lime
• Fish sauce
• 1/3 c of minced fresh mint leaves
• 1/3 c of minced fresh cilantro
• 1/2 red onion thinly sliced
• Dried chili flakes, to taste
• Toasted rice powder (It's just like it sounds, toasted Jasmine rice in a pan until just barely starting to color, put in a mini food processor and ground very finely. It's traditional and important and easy to make yourself if you can't find it or order it online.)
• Finely minced lemongrass (this is optional but it does add something special just make sure its the base of the stalk and as fine as you can slice or dice it)
• Cabbage wedges or lettuce of your choice

Magic sauce:

I call it magic because it is balanced and uses equal parts of these:

• Fish sauce
• Water
• Fresh lime juice

1. Add your minced meat to a cold pan and put the heat on medium low. You can raise the heat a bit later if you want but you are not browning the meat, you are simmering it gently in its own liquid along with the magic sauce below that creates its base flavor profile, which is salty, citrusy, but still very balanced and not overpowering. Unless you love it like that? And in that case, go nuts.
2. Add equal parts of magic sauce. This is your base liquid. Don't worry about too much liquid, initially. It's better to have too much than not enough as we don't want the meat to brown or to stick to the pan so use that as your gage. I start with 2 tbsp if each and continue to add more so the meat doesn't stick or overbrown. For 1 lb of ground meat, you may use 4 tbsp of each. I had 3 lbs of meat this time and just went with a 1/4 c of fish sauce, lime juice and water and that ended up being too much liquid once the meat cooked down. But not to worry if that's the case for you, too.
3. Gently simmer the meat until fully cooked. We want a little sauce, but not too much so you can play with this as you learn. Strain off excess liquid and reserve it until you get it how you like. I reserve it in case I strain off too much. You want it to be loose in the sauce but not swimming in it like mine was, but like I said above, better to have too much than too little. We don't want the meat to fry or stick to the pan.
4. Let your meat cool down quite a bit, strain off excess liquid if you haven't already, then really just toss in all the rest of your fresh ingredients and mix in well. I leave the chili flakes for last as this is entirely subjective. My household consumes so much chili that we make our own chili flakes. That's a recipe for another time but you can use dried pepper flakes like you would for pasta or pizza. Korean chili powder is also an alternative as it's not too hot but gives a good flavor as well if you don't enjoy the spicy heat like we do.
5. Serve immediately or you can refrigerate and serve it chilled with your favorite greens. I serve this family style with wedges of cabbage or iceberg because we like to eat it like lettuce cups or wraps.

We usually also make sticky rice or jasmine rice because that is traditional. But if you aren't into rice, it doesn't need it.