How A Thai Chef Makes Northern-Style Laab & Sticky Rice

This is wrong.

No one say larb in Thailand, we say laab.

Laab is a celebratory dish.

You see it at a temple fair, housewarming, or wedding,

even the funeral.

I am Hong Thaimee.

I am from Chiang Mai, Thailand and this is laab.

The laab that you see in America is from Isan,

mostly make with toasted rice powder.

Today we're gonna make laab kua,

which is from Northern Thailand,

which make with aromatic gorgeous spices and chili.

To laab is to mince the meat, kua is to dry salt it.

We are going to prepare laab chili seasoning,

which in Thai we call prik laab.

So we have Sichuan peppercorn,

which is a substitute for Makhwaen that we use in Thailand,

white peppercorn, star anise, cinnamon, dried chili, nutmeg,

dee plee, coriander seed, clove, mace, luk krawan, and salt.

You wanna make sure that you are not gonna burn your spice.

I'm toasting all this to bring the best of the quality

of all the spices out.

You know it's ready when you see it

a little bit toasted and drier,

and your nose will tell that.

The smell right now is like you go into a spice market.

I think this is all ready to go.

This is one of my cannot live without utensil

in my Thai kitchen.

It's my krok or stone mortar and pestle.

Thai style is different than the Mexican one

because it's deeper and we need that area

to make curry paste, to make nam phrik,

and you know, with this chili laab.

If you don't have a krok home

just use your favorite food processor.

So I'm gonna put in all the spices that I toast.

I am pounding until it's well blend, well mixed.

All right, I'm gonna blend some salt in there

just to make sure like it well season.

After a couple minutes, look at the texture

of my laab chili seasoning.

I think like the most authentic

and the most delicious to eat with laab

is with the khao niao or the long grain glutinous rice.

When you hear the term sticky rice

you would think of your favorite dessert, right?

Coconut sticky rice and mango.

It is pretty much the same thing without any sweetener.

I am going to soak my glutinous rice

in a room temperature water, and I'm gonna let it soak there

for six hours or up to an overnight.

It makes this sticky rice, you know,

soft and gentle and it just more pleasant.

The rice has been soaked and drain.

Look at this steamer set, in Thai we call it huad.

The other component, before I make it to the steamer

is this cheesecloth.

All I do, just line it on the top of it

just to keep it moist and it's easier to just,

you know, like flip it.

So I'm gonna put everything in, kind of make it even.

Now we're gonna put the lid on

and let it cook for about 10 minutes,

and we are gonna come back and check.

It looks quite good already.

The bottom part's already cooked,

so I'm gonna flip it and cooked the top part of it

for another 10 minutes.

So flip it back.

The beauty of making sticky rice

is you don't have to be so precise.

No ratios or no measurement.

The rice would change from opaque to translucent.

Ooh.

I'm gonna flip it up again.

My sticky rice is perfectly cooked.

See? Look at this.

How starchy it is, how sticky it is by itself.

It's so good.

It's time to laab the pork.

To laab something is mean to mince something.

I'm choosing the cleaver because of its heaviness

that it would help me to laab my meat faster.

I'm doing the pork tenderloin and pork liver.

I'm gonna start with the liver.

I love the texture.

I love the the richness.

If you don't like liver, just don't put it in.

I'm just going to slice this thinly,

and then I'm gonna do my pork tenderloin.

I'm just gonna slice it thinly.

And this is the most important part.

I've seen the community gather together to make laab.

The double action just impress me so much.

Whew, I think we're good.

Now I'm gonna give my laab mixture a massage.

You can tell that the spice blend

and the pork and liver mixture is like well incorporated.

These are fresh herbs that I'm going to be putting

in my laab, starting with lemongrass.

I hit it because it release the aromatic oil.

Lemongrass is a darling in Thai cuisine.

You see it in every regions of Thailand.

Shallot and I'm just going to like thinly slice them

Garlic, smash.

Cilantro.

And look, I'm using the special part, the root part of it.

Makrut lime leave.

The leaf taste like the lime brine.

It's what used in a lot of Thai curry paste.

Mint, sawtooth cilantro.

Now my fresh herbs are prep.

Let's make some laab.

Laab is pretty much straightforward.

It's just a saute of everything together.

Start with vegetable oil.

I'm throwing in the chili right now

simply because I don't want it to get cooked

in a super hot oil.

Garlic.

Now the garlic is like golden, save that to garnish later.

And then in the shallots, in the lemongrass.

If you meet your friends at the street instead of asking,

How are you?

In Thailand we ask, Where are you going?

and, Have you eaten?

'Cause food is very important and we just wanna make sure

that everybody's well fed.

Now that my lemongrass, shallot,

and garlic started to get golden,

I am putting in the pork and the liver mixture.

If the texture gets dry a little bit,

it's okay to put in some water to help it to cook.

It looks about 90% cooked.

I'm gonna throw in the fresh herbs that I cut earlier.

I'm adding fish sauce again to your taste.

It's fishy, but it has a hint of sweetness into it.

It makes a dish.

Our laab is ready, now it is time to plate.

This is a special platter.

In Northern Thailand, we call it khan toke.

What I'm gonna do is I'm going

to build my crudite platters.

Along with sticky rice, we eat laab with a lot of vegetable.

Having fresh vegetable also play a vital role

when having laab because it can help cool down the heat.

You can use any kind of vegetable.

I am transporting my laab to the top.

The chop of cilantro.

Next is the crispy garlic.

Extra chili.

Ugh.

And the khaep mu or the crispy pork rind.

And that is a laab kua that would make my dad proud.

I keep the sticky rice in the bamboo basket,

and I roll it between my fingers and my palm.

Or you can use a spoon and transfer it onto your plate.

Use my thumb and my fingers.

Go like that.

Just grab all the bits of the meat.

Oh.

So good.

Oh.

Pork skin.

And then you pick your favorite herbs as a crudite.

Vegetables of your choice.

It's so aromatics, it's earthy.

It's crunchy.

It is fresh.

It is so awesome.

If you never cook Thai food,

I hope you will try this dish and make laab.

If my family saw this presentation, they'd be so impressed.