Larb Chicken Salad

This recipe is one I've learnt not to experiment with and follow to the letter. It's deceptive in it's simplicity. I used to try and add more things like coriander or nuts, but it needs nothing else I promise. Traditionally it is eaten inside a lettuce leaf similar to like san choy bow. It also tastes great with jasmine rice or vermicelli noodles. I served it along side two Indonesian curry's (that I didn't have the energy to photograph, but I promise I will post them in the future).

 

These photos are from when I made a double batch with pork, which is traditional, but wasn't as well received as chicken normally is (the butcher only had chicken breast mince that didn't have a scrap of fat in it which would have been dry and grainy). The pork was also a bit smelly and I guess that put some people off... Lesson learned, some people aren't big fans of pork. But as a chicken dish it is usually a bit hit.

 

for one batch you'll need... 

 

 

2 tbl uncooked jasmine rice

500 gm chicken mince

2 tbl finely chopped lemongrass

1/3 cup water

3 tbl fish sauce

3 tbl lime juice

1/2 cup of mint

1 red onion finely diced

3 spring onions finely chopped

3 small hot red chilli's (seeds removed if you want it mild)

  

 

The weirdest part of the recipe is how you prepare the rice. First you dry roast it in a fry pan until it browns. Then crush it in a mortar and pestle until it looks like crushed nuts. It adds texture to the salad and is missed if you forget to put it in.

 

 

Finely dice the mint, onions, lemon grass and chilli

 

 

Cutting up these vegetables is the only really time consuming step. I use my mandolin for the red onion, it makes a huge difference!

 

 

To cook the chicken mince, put the lemon grass, 1/3 cup water and meat into a fry pan on a moderate heat and continue to stir until the meat is cooked through but not browned.

 

Carefully drain off the water and add the meat to the salad with the crushed roasted rice. I like adding the meat when it's hot because it slightly cooks the onions and mellows their flavour slightly.

 

 

 

It's best eaten still slightly warm or at room temperature, but always great the next day in your lunch box!

Thai-inspired beef noodle stir-fry

Its stir-fry madness… well not quite, it’s just a quick, simple and healthy way to cook, so I make them often.  

Some tips for making a successful stir-fry

• Do all your prep before you start cooking - everything chopped and your sauce made

• Cut each vegetable into the same, even size – not necessarily all the same as each other, just the same as its own kind. 
• Get your timing right in terms of when you add the vegetables during in the cooking process to ensure everything is cooked evenly. This is pretty impossible to teach and something you learn through trial and error, but the recipe below gives a step by step example.  
• I like everything to be a little crunchy so my hot tip is to take it off the heat before it finishes cooking, it will continue to cook after you turn it off, especially if you have a big thick scanpan wok like mine. 
• Develop the repertoire of a few different flavour combinations so it doesn’t get boring. 
• Little things like roasted peanuts, cashews, sesame seeds, thai basil, coriander, spring onions, diced omelette and fresh chilli are all good additions to the typical veggie, meat/tofu combination
• Garlic and/or ginger are your friends
• Less is more in terms of the variety of vegetables you put in. Aim to make your food-rainbow with the smallest number of vegetables as possible.

• Keep in mind the interplay of their different textures when cutting them up, for example, I no longer put finely shredded cabbage and finely shredded carrot in the same stir-fry because it ends up as this big sloppy cabbage/carrot hairball. Instead I cut one chucky and the other fine.

There is no judgement here. I don’t think that everyone should cook exactly like me, I like to take my time because I enjoy it. My super busy ex-housemate Anna used to make a stir-fry using those bags of pre-chopped veggies and store bought sauce, which I think is great if you can’t be arsed buying all the individual components. If this is how you cook, good for you, its about a million times better for you than take away. Perhaps next time you do it, also buy some unsalted roasted cashews and a bunch of coriander and add them at the end. I’m hoping for this blog to inspire not preach. I believe that if we eat satisfying, nutritious food it leads to less cravings and binge eating, which is better for all of us.

This sauce is pretty light and low sodium, increase the quantities if you like a strong sauce. The recipe cooked enough for 3 medium sized portions

Sauce

2 tsp fish sauce

2 tsp oyster sauce

1 small fresh chilli diced

2 tbl soy sauce

Juice of one lemon/lime

Stir fry

¼ cup cashews

360gm of rump steak cut into thin strips (90 degrees to grain of the muscle)

1 onion coarsely chopped

3x20cm sticks celery cut into sticks

½ a red capsicum diced

2 garlic cloves diced

Big handful of cabbage cut into chunks

1 carrot julienned

Coriander to garnish

90 gm dry Soba noodles par cooked and drained

In a wok dry roast ¼ cup cashews (this is a fairly small portion of nuts because I’d snacked on many nuts already that day – I suggest going for ½ a cup if you want a cashew in every bite!)

Add 1 tbl vegetable oil and 1/3 of the beef, you are aiming to brown the meat, which is why I suggest to not overcrowd the pan, but you don’t want to cook it through completely. I gave mine about 1 minute each side.

Meat tip: I try to always have my meat at room temperature before cooking it – because it cooks more evenly and is often turns out more tender.

Continue cooking the meat in batches and set aside with the cashews

Next add 1 coarsely chopped onion. My wok was quite hot at this stage, which is important, but I added about 2 tbl water with the onion to improve the heat transfer between the onions and the wok (as opposed to adding more oil) and also liberating the brown meaty bits from the pan. 

Fry for 1 minute, add celery

Fry for another minute or so, then add red capsicum and garlic

Fry for another minute or so, then add cabbage, fry for another minute.

Then add carrots, sauce, cooked beef, par cooked soba and cashews.

Allow everything to heat through then turn off the heat and sprinkle with a little chopped coriander.

Calling it Thai is a stretch, especially because of the use of soba noodles. But I like to use them because they are really good for you, filling and tasty. Also in terms of a maintaining a balanced diet I often let myself down by over doing it with my portions of pasta and rice. So this way the carbohydrates are already portioned out for me. 

Left overs update: I just had some for lunch today with a runny fried egg on top… yuummmm.