Healthy Diet
Spicy Thai Larb Gai Salad + Flowers
Spicy Thai Larb Gai Salad + Flowers
I’ve been in love with Larb Gai salad since the first time I tried it. It took me a while to get the recipe down. Often if you order it at a Thai restaurant, it is salty as hell, but it’s hard to get the perfect flavor without some salt.
I remember back in the day taking one of my guy pals out for his first Thai food adventure aside the usual Pad Thai go-to and practically forcing him to get off his Pad Thai Boring Guy routine.
“You Gotta TRY the Larb Guy!”
To which he replied: “I just can’t get past ordering something to eat called Large Guy!”.
Good times.
Stuff You’ll Need for Large Guy Salad:
2/3 cup fresh lime juice
1/3 cup fish sauce (nam pla*)
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon crushed dried chili (to taste) IF you MUST you can use Thai chili garlic sauce, but it’s got a lot of junk added to it
3/4 cup canned low-salt chicken broth
1 1/2 pounds ground organic chicken breast (or I buy boneless skinless and process in cuisinart, way less $$$$ and fresher
1 cup thinly sliced green onions
3/4 cup thinly sliced shallots
3 tablespoons minced fresh lemongrass*
1 tablespoon thinly sliced Thai chilies* or serrano chilies
1/2 cup thinly sliced red bell peppers
1/4 cup grated carrot
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
1/3 cup chopped fresh mint leaves
1-2 T Roasted Rice powder
2 small heads Romaine lettuce or cabbage, separated into leaves or mixed greens
How to make it:
Whisk lime juice, fish sauce, honey and dried chili’s in a small bowl.
Bring broth to simmer in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add chicken. Simmer until cooked through, breaking up meat with spoon, about 8 minutes. add shallots, lemongrass and crushed chilis. Stir until vegetables are tender and most of liquid has evaporated, about 4 minutes. Add more broth if needed. Add green onions and remove from heat. Stir in sauce, cilantro, sliced red peppers, grated carrot & mint. Season with salt and pepper.
Spoon into iceberg or romaine lettuce leaves or plop over mixed greens as shown above.
- 2/3 cup fresh lime juice
- 1/3 cup fish sauce (nam pla*)
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 2 teaspoons Thai roasted chili paste* in oil or chili-garlic sauce*
- 3/4 cup canned low-salt chicken broth
- 1 1/2 pounds ground organic chicken breast (or buy boneless skinless and process in cuisinart, way less $$$$
- 1 cup thinly sliced green onions
- 3/4 cup thinly sliced shallots
- 3 tablespoons minced fresh lemongrass*
- 1 tablespoon thinly sliced Thai chilies* or serrano chilies
- 1/2 cup thinly sliced red bell peppers
- 1/4 cup grated carrot
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
- 1/3 cup chopped fresh mint leaves
- 1-2 T Roasted Rice powder
- 2 small heads Romaine lettuce or cabbage, separated into leaves or mixed greens
- Whisk lime juice, fish sauce, honey and chili in a small bowl.
- Bring broth to simmer in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add chicken. Simmer until cooked through, breaking up meat with spoon, about 8 minutes. add shallots, lemongrass and crushed chilis. Stir until vegetables are tender and most of liquid has evaporated, about 4 minutes. Add more broth if needed. Add green onions and remove from heat. Stir in sauce, cilantro, sliced red peppers, grated carrot & mint. Season with salt and pepper.
- Spoon into iceberg or romaine lettuce leaves or plop over mixed greens as shown above.
I love my thai recipes but they all have so many ingredients! By the time I’m done I might as well have saved the trouble and just ordered from the local Thai place (which is probably cheaper.) This one looks good though – I love thai larb too though! what’s that red flower?
Hey @Lynn, I know how you feel! Sometimes it’s much easier to just order Thai-to-Go, and believe me, I do that often! We have a great local place called Ciao Thyme- http://ciaothyme.com and they make a killer larb salad. That’s where I got the inspiration for this recipe. Thanks for popping by!
This “Large Guy” looks delicious! I kinda agree with Lynn, however–that’s a lot of ingredients. Still, once you have them on hand (which I don’t, because, um, rice powder? Where does a simple country gal find rice powder?) it doesn’t look hard to throw together.
Yum yum! Now I want to go to Thailand…or at least to Ciao Thyme. Can I eat this for breakfast? 😉