laap gai
Three years ago, I joined my family (I’m talking extended family: a small busload of aunts, uncles, and cousins… and that was only half of my mom’s side) on an epic trip to Laos. We spent several nights in Luang Prabang, a city full of old Buddhist temples that is recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site (yes, the entire city), then traveled down a narrow, winding, sometimes unpaved highway to the capital city of Vientiane, where both of my parents grew up.
At an unremarkable roadside stand down the street from the apartment where my dad lived as a child, I had what was probably the best and freshest bánh mì I’ve ever eaten. In the eco-touristy city of Vang Vieng, I gorged myself on a green papaya salad dotted plentifully with chopped green beans and chopped raw green chilies that were indistinguishable from each other until they entered my mouth. It was the kind of capsaicin overload that makes you dizzy and lightheaded. Throughout the trip, I had many iterations of sweet sticky rice wrapped in banana leaves and sticky cakes made from rice flour, with things like egg custard, coconut, and mung beans. And of course, we had a lot of laap (also spelled larb, larp, or laab), a common meat dish in both Laos and northern Thailand.
I returned to New York SAD-free and with a reinvigorated appreciation for painfully hot chili peppers, best eaten raw. It’s not that the food was a revelation; I loved it because it was familiar. These were all things I had tasted at the homes of relatives and family friends. But food seems to taste better when you’re on vacation.
Below is a rough recipe for laap gai (chicken laap). I hand-chopped the chicken into pieces that weren’t quite small enough (blame it on hunger-induced impatience), then overcooked it. The real deal should have ground meat or more finely chopped pieces, along with a little bit of liquid at the bottom of the plate. It also looks really nice when you garnish it with mint leaves (I ran out).
2 tablespoons glutinous rice (sometimes called sticky rice… but not the same thing as sushi rice)
1 pound ground chicken
1 small shallot bulb, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon fish sauce
juice of half a lime
a few small hot chili peppers (such as Thai bird’s eye), chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh mint
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Heat rice in a small dry pan over medium heat, stirring constantly. When all of rice is golden brown, remove from heat. Let it cool a bit, then grind with a mortar and pestle, or in a spice grinder. Set aside.
Heat some vegetable oil in a large pan or wok over medium heat. Add chicken, shallot, and salt. Stir it around to cook evenly. Add fish sauce. Cook until most, but not all, of the juices from the chicken are gone. Toss with lime juice, chilies, mint, cilantro, and toasted rice powder.
