Thursday, January 31, 2008

Thai Chicken Larb


Back in Australia, I used to have my favourite hole in the wall Thai restaurant and they served a wicked chicken larb. It's not that common over here, or I'm just not going to the right Thai restaurants to find it, so I was excited a couple of years ago to find this Larb recipe in Cooking Light. The first time I made it, it was OK, a bit bland, so I didn't make it again for ages. When I was cleaning out my recipes the other day, I rediscovered it and made it again with a few significant changes.

Instead of just cooking the chicken and then just coating it with the dressing mixture at the end of the cooking, I marinated the chicken overnight in the mixture. I'm really happy with the results, it tasted spicy and yum! I served it in crisp iceberg lettuce cups with sides of rice noodles and a cucumber/cilantro salad which I drizzled with a couple of squeezes of lime juice.

2 teaspoons grated lime rind
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon fish sauce
2 teaspoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon chopped serrano chile
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
12 oz ground chicken
Iceberg lettuce

Combine the first 7 ingredients, stirring with a whisk until until sugar dissolves. Pour over chicken, marinate overnight or for a couple of hours.

Heat 1tablespoon oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Add chicken mixture and saute until done. I drained off the juices and served the chicken a bit drier. Divide chicken mixture up into about four lettuce leaves and serve with rice or rice noddles and a side dish if desired. This would also make a nice appetiser.

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