Larb Laab Larp

[tommy]

Please elaborate for the unknowing, what is yum woon sen?

click here for a photo.

it's a salad of mung bean noodle, round chix or pork, a few shrimp, cilantro, chilis, lime juice, and fish sauce. similar in taste to larb, but with the brilliant texture of mung bean noodle. usually served on some lettuce. it's so wonderful, especially if you like mung bean noodle...and every should like mung bean noodle.

[torakris]

Thanks! I will give that a try.

I have tons of mung bean noodle, I keep picking up a pack thinking I am not when I am really not?!

[snowangel]

My neighbors had a party on Saturday night. Complete with the Mexican band, carnitas, homemade tortillas, that wonderful pico (very light on the tomatoes, very heavy on the jalapenos), lots of beer, people of all ages. It was wonderful.

They always invite us, and I'm never quite sure how to reciprocate. So, this time, I made larp, sticky rice, and Thai squid salad (squid, handfuls of bird chiles, cilantro, red onions and lime juice.

They loved it, and Cruz and I are going to trade -- she'll give me tamale lessons and I'll give a larb lesson.

[torakris]

I can't believe it has been almost a month since we last discussed larb!

What on earth has everyone been doing that is more important than this dish!

I had a squid salad last night that was almost a squid version of larb, it was absolutely heavenly!

just barely cooked squid tossed with nampla, lime juice, sugar, chiles, kaffir lime leaf, lemon grass and mint all scooped up with romaine lettuce leaves..................... still dreaming about it!

[AndrewM]

In the June Saveur (with the watermelon on the cover) there is an article on northeastern Thailand that includes a recipe for Laab Pla Duk (grilled catfish larb) and a reference to laab kai mod daeng - larb made with ant eggs, mint and lime juice.

Mmmmm. Ant eggs.

[Varmint]

I didn't have laab/larb last night, but I did eat at a Thai friend's house, and one of the dishes was this awesome green papaya and dried shrimp salad.

But I digress. I learned that the correct pronunciation of laab/larb/larp is almost like the first syllable in labyrinth, but the short "a" is drawn out a bit. It's not "lawb" or "larb", more like laaab. Just in case you might be interested!

[tommy]

I didn't have laab/larb last night, but I did eat at a Thai friend's house, and one of the dishes was this awesome green papaya and dried shrimp salad.

no, you don't really digress.

this dish is one of my favorites. i'd say it has a similar flavor profile to laab. sour, sweet, spicy if you want it. it's such a fresh tasting dish. texturally, it's da bomb.

[snowangel]

I didn't have laab/larb last night, but I did eat at a Thai friend's house, and one of the dishes was this awesome green papaya and dried shrimp salad.

no, you don't really digress.

this dish is one of my favorites. i'd say it has a similar flavor profile to laab. sour, sweet, spicy if you want it. it's such a fresh tasting dish. texturally, it's da bomb.

Som tam. Traditionally eaten in Thailand with sticky rice. Yes, it is da bomb. As is the squid version of larb that Torakris mentions. My Mexican neighbors love both. And, believe it or not, they do work with tortillas.

[Jason Perlow]

Recently at a local Thai restaurant (Bangkok Garden in Hackensack, NJ) I had a dish called "Nam Sod". Mind you they didnt have LARB on the menu, but they had this -- which is basically chicken Larb -- wokked up ground chicken, with an acidic dressing (pretty much the larb dressing) but with LOTS of chopped up ginger and lemongrass and chopped up peanuts in it

Is Nam Sod just another name for a regional variant of Larb or is it really a different dish?

Here's some recipes:

http://bangkokcuisine.com/original/bangkok...nam_sod_moo.htm

http://thai-sv.com/thai-cgi-bin/recipe/rec...0Sod%20Pork.txt

http://importfood.com/recipes/naemsod.html

http://www.joycesfinecooking.com/Ethnic/na...nam_sod_moo.htm

Note that these are made with ground pork, not ground chicken.

here's a chicken one, although probably not authentic as it uses hoisin sauce:

http://2worksforyou.com/food/recipes/namsod.shtml

[snowangel]

Growing up in Thailand, I don't recall ground chicken in anything. Any chicken was usually hacked up (a large dice, bones and all). Ground pork, yes. Come to think of it, I don't even recall anything with ground beef. And, I believe than about 90% of my "growing up" larb was with raw pork. Now, this was back in the 1970's, and things may have changed.

I'll check out "nam sod" and ask some of my Thai friends about it. It's not ringing a bell.

[mamster]

We've eaten a lot of larb gai (with minced chicken) in Thailand, but it usually has a hand-minced quality and sometimes includes liver. When I make larb with chicken at home I grind the meat in the food processor and the texture is great.

[tommy]

When I make larb with chicken at home I grind the meat in the food processor and the texture is great.

i hear ya kid. i was all excited to get my grinder attachment for my kitchenaide thing. after using it, i realized that the food processor does a much better job for this application. the grinder is good for sausage is suppose.

and i'm one of those people who likes the occasional bit of metallic liver in my larb. i'm guessing jason perlow is *not* one of those people.

[torakris]

I prefer to hack away at my chicken with two cleavers!

[Marlene]

Ben, glad to hear your larb turned out yummy, too! 

Alas, my cuisinart is too big to grind rice and my grinder smells like coffee powder, and I don't have a mortar/pestal (it's on my x-mas list), so believe it or not I had to resort to putting my toasted rice in a ziplock and use my hammer on it to get it to break up  . After much hammering which also scared my cat, I finally had my ground rice.

Snowangel, thanks for the tips on the sweet rice.  I even have some, but didn't think to use it.  I will next time. (Sweet rice is the same as sticky rice, yes?).  Also when you say you use raw pork, do you mean ground pork?

I can't believe I actually read through this whole thread.

Um Ben, could you use a rolling pin with your toasted rice in a Ziplock bag? I used my rolling pin and ziplocks extensively to grind up nuts and other things before I got a spice grinder.

Just a thought.

[torakris]

I had another larb type salady thingie yesterday, this time made with bamboo shoots.

I sort of followed a recipe from Thai food and it it turned out great!

[tommy]

how do we feel about making larb for a cookout, serving it at room temp. room temp being whatever the temp outside happens to be. i can't see why not, but for some reason i'm hesitant to serve larb at a BBQ.

and ideas on how to actually serve it, short of having a big tin of it with some lettuce on the side?

thoughts?

Edited June 27, 2003 by tommy (log)

[Varmint]

for some reason i'm hesitant to serve larb at a BBQ. 

You should be. You'd get beat up down here for such a transgression. Now if you made the larb with smoked pork or smoked chicken, that's a different matter altogether.

Larbeque. Sounds good to me!

[tommy]

eck. remember, when i say "BBQ" i mean "the thing were people come over and we put food stuff on the gas grill and have salads and beer and stuff." think of it as a dinner party, but outside. larb fits, i think, but i'm wondering if it's doable. i'm considering serving it in endive leaves a la those nice folks up in the pacific northwest. however, i'm thinking it has to be prepared and served almost immediately. i don't want the lime juice to toughen the meat. i'd like nothing more than to do this well ahead of time, however.

[guajolote]

Larb at a cookout sounds wonderful to me, I'm in.

Couldn't you make everything and put the lime juice in a seperate container? At the last minute toss the lime in and serve. I have done this with ceviche and it was very easy.

[tommy]

Larb at a cookout sounds wonderful to me, I'm in.

Couldn't you make everything and put the lime juice in a seperate container? At the last minute toss the lime in and serve. I have done this with ceviche and it was very easy.

good idea guajolote,

at the very least, i'll mince the chicken (yeah, chicken) the day before. i cook it with lime juice, so i'll probably just wait til the next day to dress it. or, i can cook it with just stock, and dress it the next day. either way, i'll have to leave out the cilantro, red pepper, and scallion until the last minute, as i don't want them to go limp.

i'm going to go ahead and do this. i'll report back.

yours, in larb,

tommy

[hjshorter]

I would cook the chicken with stock and prep the veggies the night before. Then mix everything and dress the day of the party. Soaking the chicken in lime juice overnight sounds potentially unpleasant.

What a great idea. We're having a party at the end of July and haven't gotten around to the menu yet. Larbecue and ice cold beer sounds perfect.

[Priscilla]

Hey Priscilla, Cha Am is still good!

I had laab salad ($6.75) which was finely chopped chicken mixed with the usual stuff but with some ground peanuts added too.  And iceberg lettuce on the side.  They didn't have beef laab on the menu though, which I was hoping to try.  Oh well. 

Gknl thank you so much for the update -- I have such fond memories of that place and the eponymous dish of which we speak. I am sorry I didn't see your post contemporaneously. Haven't been in Larb Mind; something to correct.

Relatedly, I have now read this entire discussion, off and on, interruptedly, over this a.m., and the pages seem to have increased from 5 to 6 and then on to 7 even as I read and left and came back and read some more.

Illusion? Or, miracle?

Anyways, making a hot-weather grilled-beef Thai salad tonight, unless plans change, and you know, sometimes they do.

[tommy]

Anyways, making a hot-weather grilled-beef Thai salad tonight, unless plans change, and you know, sometimes they do.

what cut of meat? this dish is very larb-like. i like that.

[Priscilla]

Coupla very nice-looking Certifiable Angus ribeyes. In fact it was the cut its own darn self that put the Thai beef salad bee into my proverbial bonnet.

Dunno why but ribeye just seems to have Thai Beef Salad written all over it. At least last evening when I caught a glimpse of them on the second shelf of the fridge they seemed to.

That and with the ruminating on Jasmine rice I've been doing, like ... WHY is the rice at that little Thai place sososo incredibly otherworldly GOOD? Can I possibly prepare Jasmine rice at home that is even HALF as good? Like that.

[Adam Balic]

Made Venison larp stuff from a loas recipe. Pretty good. Meat roasted rare, then thinly sliced. Will try it with raw venison next time.