Borrowed the idea of Laab (meat salad in Thai), the recipe gives a tasty option to make good use of a lot of leftover roast you most likely have in summer. The simple Thai dressing transforms the less desired leftover and make it a great choice for a quick lunch or a refreshing appetizer for your family dinner.
The defining element of this Thai meat salad or laab dressing, is the toasted rice powder by using any kind of white rice, though traditionally it is done with Thai sticky rice. It is not laab without toasted rice powder. So no excuse to skip this ingredient.
I have provided a small “base” recipe so you can scale up to whatever quantity of leftovers you have. Be sure to scale up all ingredients proportionally; except the chilies, which you just add to taste.
Serve 1 to 2
- 1 tablespoon uncooked white rice
- Roughly 150 g leftover chicken or any roast meat
- 1 teaspoon finely chopped palm sugar or light brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- ¼ – ½ teaspoon dried chili flakes, to taste
- 3 tablespoon finely sliced shallots
- A big handful of mint or any other fresh herbs you have sitting around. Both cilantro and green onions are good options.
Method
- Make toasted rice powder: In a dry saute pan, add the rice and cook over medium high heat, stirring constantly until the rice has a deep brown colour. Remove from heat and grind into a powder in a mortar and pestle or using a coffee grinder.
- For leftover poultry, shred the meat into small strips. If using roast beef, thinly slice into bite-sized pieces. Heat the leftovers up slightly in a microwave so they are warm or room temp.
- In a mixing bowl, combine fish sauce, lime juice, sugar, chilies and shallots; stir until the sugar is dissolved.
- Add the leftover meat, toasted rice powder and fresh herbs, and toss until well combined.
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