Isan Style Chicken Laap
What is laap?
Laap (aka laab, lahb, larb….) is a bit hard to describe to those who aren’t familiar this Thai/Lao dish. In essence, it is a ground meat salad. Ground meat is cooked, seasoned and then tossed with a number of different herbs and garnishes. Broadly speaking, there are two main types of laap…laap Isan and laap muang. The main differences being the way the dishes are seasoned and the regions in which they are most often consumed.
Laap Isan is the style that is made in the northeastern (Isan) region of Thailand. It is the most common style of laap found in Thai restaurants here in the US. It can be characterized by its primary seasonings of fish sauce, dried chili powder and lime juice. The resulting dish is usually spicy, salty, and herbaceous.
Laap muang is the style most prevalent in northern Thailand (Lanna). This style is much less common in the US than it’s Isan counterpart, but is equally delicious. Laap muang does not contain lime juice and has a number of dry spices used in the seasoning. This dish is much more aromatic and deep in its flavor profile.
Any number of proteins can be used in both styles of laap. Chicken, pork, buffalo and seafood are all commonly used as the base for these dishes. Additions of organ meat, blood and bile are often used as well. The herbs can vary but mint, scallion, cilantro are quite common.
Notes on this recipe:
This version of laap Isan has a few extra bells and whistles. That being said, you could easily omit a few of the ingredients and still yield a very delicious result. I like to serve this dish with sticky rice and raw vegetables to eat between bites. Cabbage and cucumbers work well but you could serve the dish with anything you like.
When preparing this laap, remember to turn off the heat after the meat has been cooked through. The shallots and herbs should be mixed in at the very last moment before serving them so that they do not get overly cooked. You want the herbs to wilt a little but still maintain some freshness.
I have provided a sub-recipe for a crispy garlic and chicken skin topping but you could also just use some plain fried garlic or shallots as a topping. A bit of extra toasted rice powder also works well as a topping if you can’t be bothered frying garlic or shallots.
Goes well with:
NECESSARY FOR THIS RECIPE:
Isan Style Chicken Laap
Ingredients
Crispy garlic and chicken skin topping
- 45 grams chicken skin (from one chicken thigh/leg)
- 12 grams garlic 3 cloves
- 1/2 Tbsp neutral flavored cooking oil (canola, vegetable, corn….etc)
Laap
- 200 grams chicken thigh and leg meat one chicken leg and thigh
- 50 grams fresh chicken liver about one chicken liver
- 7-8 Tbsp chicken stock (or water)
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- 1 gram makrut lime leaves (optional) about 6 leaves
- 2 tsp garlicky chicken fat (reserved from making the crispy garlic and chicken skin topping)
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1.5 Tbsp toasted chili powder ( Arbol chili works well) recipe linked above
- 4 Tbsp fish sauce
- 2 Tbsp fresh lime juice
- 1/2 Tbsp toasted rice powder,plus a pinch for sprinkling on top recipe linked above
- 60 grams shallot about 2 medium shallots
- 15 grams roughly chopped cilantro about 1/2 cup chopped
- 30 grams thinly sliced scallion about 2 scallions
- 10 grams roughly torn fresh mint leaves about 1 loose cup leaves
- 10 grams sawtooth herb AKA culantro (optional) about 6 leaves
- 2-3 toasted dry arbol chilis for garnish (optional)
Serve with:
- sticky rice
- wedges of raw green cabbage and slices of cucumber
Instructions
Crispy garlic and chicken skin topping
- Roughly chop the chicken skin, set aside
- Chop the garlic
- Place chopped garlic in a cup of very hot tap water and allow to rest for 10 minutes (this will make the fried garlic a bit less pungent after frying)
- Strain garlic from water and pat dry using paper towels, set garlic aside.
- Place chicken skin in a small pot with 1.2 Tbsp oil. Turn heat to medium low.
- Cook chicken skins over medium-low heat while stirring until skins start to lightly brown and get crispy. About 5-10 minutes. Turn down heat if skins are getting too dark.
- Strain out crispy skins and lay on paper towls. Season lightly with salt. Keep the rendered chicken fat in the pot.
- Let chicken fat cool down a bit and then add the garlic that you prepared earlier.
- Turn heat up to medium and cook until garlic starts to sizzle. Once sizzling, turn heat down to medium low and cook while stirring. You can also use a thermometer and try to maintain around 300 Fahrenheit, no hotter than 315.
- Cook garlic until garlic has lightly browned and the sizzling has subsided
- Strain out crispy garlic and mix with crispy chicken skin, season with a touch more salt. Reserve the garlicky chicken fat to mix into laap later.
Prepping the Laap
- Slice the shallots and set aside
- Slice the sawtooth herb (culantro) and mix with the torn mint leaves, chopped cilantro and sliced scallion. Set aside herbs.
- Chop the chicken thigh and leg meat by hand. It should be slightly coarser than store bought ground chicken. Set aside
- Chop the chicken liver in the same way. Set aside
- Roughly tear the makrut lime leaves and set aside
Cooking the laap
- Place chicken stock (or water), chopped chicken and chicken liver into a small pot.
- Turn heat up to medium high and start to cook meat while stirring. Season with the 1/4 tsp. salt while cooking. There should be some liquid at the bottom of the pot after cooking.
- Once chicken is just cooked through, turn off the heat and stir in the torn makrut lime leaves.
- Off the heat, add the rest of the ingredients to the pot in the order shown in the recipe list. Stir a few times to combine and taste. Herbs should wilt slightly but still maintain some structure. If necessary adjust seasoning now. Laap should have a little bit of liquid seeping out of the bottom, if too dry, add a touch more stock or water.
- Spoon laap onto a plate and sprinkle with the crispy garlic and chicken skin topping, a bit of toasted rice powder and garnish with a few optional toasted arbol chilis.
