15-Minute Chicken Larb with Toasted Rice Powder

By Sprig Originals ✓ · cooked up in Sprig

A hot-skillet Thai chicken salad that comes together faster than takeout: ground chicken cooked in its own juices, doused in lime and fish sauce, then tossed with fistfuls of mint, cilantro and shaved shallot. The move that makes it taste like a Thai restaurant is khao khua — raw sticky rice toasted in a dry pan until it smells like popcorn, then ground to a coarse sand. It thickens the dressing, gives every bite a faint nutty crunch, and takes five minutes. Scoop it with cabbage or crisp lettuce and eat it standing up.

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp uncooked Thai sticky (glutinous) rice, or jasmine rice
• 1 thin slice fresh galangal or ginger, optional
• 2 makrut lime leaves, optional

• 1 lb ground chicken, preferably dark meat
• 3 tbsp water or unsalted chicken stock
• 3 tbsp fish sauce
• 3 tbsp fresh lime juice, from about 2 limes
• 1 tsp granulated sugar or palm sugar
• 1 tbsp Thai roasted chili powder (prik bon), or 1 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 large shallot, very thinly sliced
• 3 scallions, thinly sliced
• 1 cup loosely packed fresh mint leaves
• 3/4 cup loosely packed cilantro leaves and tender stems, chopped
• 1 fresh Thai chili, thinly sliced, optional

• 1 head iceberg or Little Gem lettuce, leaves separated
• 1/4 head green cabbage, cut into wedges
• 1 Persian cucumber, sliced into spears
• 2 cups cooked Thai sticky rice or jasmine rice
• 1 lime, cut into wedges

Instructions

1. Make the rice powder first. Put the 3 tablespoons of raw rice in a dry skillet (no oil) over medium heat, along with the galangal slice and lime leaves if using. Shake and stir almost constantly for 6 to 9 minutes, until the grains go from white to a deep golden tea color and smell distinctly like popcorn. Don't walk away — the shift from golden to burnt takes under a minute.
2. Slide the toasted rice onto a plate to stop the cooking and cool for 2 minutes. Grind to a coarse, sandy powder in a mortar and pestle, spice grinder, or by crushing in a zip-top bag with the bottom of a heavy pan. You want texture, not flour — a few larger bits are good. Discard the galangal and lime leaves. You should have about 3 tablespoons; set aside.
3. Whisk the dressing in a small bowl: fish sauce, lime juice, sugar, and chili powder. Taste — it should be aggressively salty and sour on its own, since the chicken will absorb most of it.
4. Wipe out the skillet and set it over medium-high heat. Add the water or stock and the ground chicken. Break the meat up with a wooden spoon into small, fine crumbles as it heats — larb should be minced, not chunky.
5. Cook, stirring and mashing, for 5 to 7 minutes, until the chicken is opaque throughout and no pink remains (165°F). It will poach in its own liquid rather than brown; that's correct. If more than a tablespoon or two of liquid remains, let it simmer off for another minute.
6. Take the skillet off the heat. Pour in the dressing and stir for 30 seconds so it soaks in while the meat is still hot. Let it sit 2 minutes to cool slightly — adding herbs to screaming-hot meat turns them black.
7. Add the shallot, scallions, 2 tablespoons of the toasted rice powder, and the fresh chili if using. Toss well. Add the mint and cilantro and fold just two or three times, so the leaves stay whole and bright.
8. Taste and adjust: more lime for sharpness, a splash of fish sauce for depth, a pinch of chili powder for heat. Pile onto a platter, dust with the remaining tablespoon of rice powder, and serve warm or at room temperature with lettuce leaves, cabbage wedges, cucumber, sticky rice, and lime wedges.

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Nutrition (per serving, estimated)

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