We tend to eat salads for lunch during the week to make up for all the rich foods we end up eating on the weekends! And recently, I’ve been switching from cobb to Greek salads for our lunches. Arkadi, being the good husband that he is, gladly eats whatever I serve him. As for me, I get bored fast. Real fast. That’s where Larb Gai comes in.
What is Larb Gai, you ask? Well, larb or laab is a chopped meat salad that originates from Northern Thailand (Chiang Ria/Chiang Mai regions bordering Myanmar) and gai is Thai for chicken. I came across this recipe from tastypursuits.com (thanks to instagram) and it really peaked my curiosity! Larb Gai is usually served with a side of sticky rice; but I decided to make it into a main course salad. Larb Gai or Thai Chicken Salad was perfect to mix things up for us!
The recipe calls for some prep work (mostly chopping), but the combined flavours were fantastic – sweet, salty, sour, nutty and fresh! So here’s the recipe for you to try out:
- 1 cup boneless and skinless chicken breast, minced (we used 2 boiled and shredded chicken breasts)
- 2 ounces lime juice
- 1 and ½ ounce fish sauce
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon ground chili (we used red pepper flakes)
- 3 teaspoons ground toasted rice powder
- 2 teaspoons green onions
- 2 teaspoons minced red onion
- 2 romaine lettuce hearts, shredded
- 1 cucumber, julienned
- 1 carrot, julienned
- 2 teaspoons of chopped mint
- To make the toasted rice powder, you need to toast raw sticky rice in a dry pan until golden brown and then grind the rice grains in a food processor.
- Add the shredded/minced chicken breasts in a large bowl.
- Then add the lime juice, fish sauce, sugar, red pepper flakes, rice powder, green onions, red onions and mint. Mix well to combine all the ingredients and set aside.
- On a serving platter, add shredded lettuce, cucumbers and carrots and top with the chicken mixture.
- Garnish with sprigs of mint and enjoy.
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This is one of my favourite salads ever! (With tofu instead of chicken) your version looks great 🙂
Hi Lilli! We’ll try tofu instead of chicken one of these days, maybe on meatless monday 🙂 Thanks for stopping by!
lovely salad and all the colors are just lovely!
Thanks very much! We do love salads with vibrant colours!
This is one of my fave Thai salads. Every time that I go to a Thai restaurant near home, I do order either this or the green papaya salad. Thanks a lot for the recipe so I can make by myself one of my fave salads.
Hi Denise! It made for a nice meal for sure! Try it out and let us know what you think. I have yet to try to make papaya salad though!
Yum yum, I want to stuff it in a rice paper roll and carry it to work – or on my balcony 🙂
Hi Tobi! Caring is sharing right? If only we can send a bowl to you! Thanks for stopping by!!
This chicken salad looks great, like the idea of the fish sauce in it…and a touch of spicy…
Thanks for the recipe…have a great week 😀
Thanks for your feedback! Have a great week too!
This salad looks awesome Sarah! Love Thai food and asian salads and this one sounds so tasty! Would make such a wonderful healthy but satisfying lunch, thanks for sharing 🙂
Thanks very much Kelly! We love thai food a lot too!
this salad looks good! larb gai sounds interesting!
Thank you Ruby!
That’s exactly what we do. Eat light during the week so we splurge on the weekends. Love this salad recipe, thanks for sharing.
Thanks very much!
I love Thai food and this salad sounds divine!
Thank you Tandy!
I love larb SOOO much! Agh it’s one of my favorite salads now, the roasted rice powder, the tart lime juice, and all the fresh herbs, amazing.
Try adding some vietnamese salads to your lunches – I recommend “Goi Ga”. Similar flavor profiles!
Thanks for stopping by! Appreciate your suggestion a lot Gina!
Any recipe with ‘Thai’ in the title always grabs my interest. I love the idea of making something like this and packing it up in a box for work! Now you’ve given me an idea 😉
Great! Hope you get to try this sometime soon!
This is such a fun way to mix up salad flavors!! I would definitely be excited to have this for lunch.
Yes, mixing it up has been working for us. Thanks Joanne!
Tasty looking Thai salad.
Many thanks!
Love the combination of flavors in this salad! I tend to get bored really easily too, especially of salads. This is a great way to switch up the salad routine!
Same here. Changing it up is what worked for us! Thank you!
This is my kind of salad, so fresh and delicious sounding! Love the fresh mint!
Yes! We love fresh mint also but tend to forget about adding it to salads. Thank you!
Larb is one of my favs! It’s like the perfect low-carb diet food. Yum yum, I will definitely try this…thanks for the post!
Glad to hear you like this dish! Thank you!
My blogging friend Taylor just made Larb Gai on her blog Food Faith Fitness as well not too long ago! Now I’m thinking I 100% need to try this Larb Gai out!
Cool! Now you have another reason to give this a try! Thanks!
Oh yum, sounds great. I get bored easily when it comes to salads, I love them but need to change it up a lot. This salad is light but meaty enough to satisfy and LOVE Thai flavors.
You got it! That’s why we liked it also! Thank you!
This looks so fresh and delicious… yummy!!
Appreciate your comment Heather!
I really need to be more creative with my lunches! Loving this salad. Thanks for sharing.
Yes, lunch ideas can be a challenge…we get in a rut ourselves every so often. Thanks!
Looks delicious! I love all the beautiful bright colours!
Thank you!
What a beautiful Spring salad. Love that used mint…I always forget about it. ;)ela
Thank you! Mint is very refreshing indeed!