In the village environment, free-range chicken laap is made from a whole bird butchered and cooked on the spot. All the parts of the chicken are used, with nothing wasted or discarded. First, the meat is minced. Gradually, the still-warm chicken blood is added until the meat is saturated and becomes gooey and moist.
The blood and the dark phrik laap seasoning dress up the white chicken meat for a beef-like appearance.
The rest of the chicken parts are cooked according to one preference. The cartilage and tendons, praised for their texture, are only roughly minced and may be crisp-fried or wet-roasted. Similarly, the chicken offal – the liver, gizzard, and heart – are sliced and then cooked or crisp-fried.
The skin is sliced into thin strips and is fried together with garlic, shallots, lemongrass, ginger and galangal, a component of the crispy elements of Northern-style laap dishes called khreuuang mee (เครื่องหมี่).
Northern Thai-style laap of chicken (ลาบไก่เมือง ; laap gai muang)
In the village environment, free-range chicken laap is made from a whole bird butchered and cooked on the spot. All the parts of the chicken are used, with nothing wasted or discarded.
If you use a whole chicken, separate the offal, meat, skin, tendons, and cartilage.
On a cutting board and using a knife, mince the chicken meat to a smooth consistency. Do not use a meat grinder or an electric food processor.
Gradually add fresh pork blood and continue mincing. Repeat until the minced chicken meat becomes deep red in color and gooey. Set aside.
Prepare the chicken offal:
Slice the chicken offal – the liver, gizzard, and heart – into thin slices.
Boil or fry until cooked. If you are frying them, you can either fry until just cooked or until they are crisp.
Prepare the chicken tendons and cartilage (optional):
On a cutting board and using a knife, mince the chicken cartilage to a rough consistency. Set aside.
Fry the minced tendons and cartilage until they become golden and crispy. Strain and set aside.
Prepare the crispy ingredients (เครื่องหมี่; khreuuang mee)
Slice the chicken skin into thin elongated strips.
Bruise and then thinly slice the lemongrass.
Thinly slice the shallots lengthwise along the growth axis.
Slice the ginger and galangal into thin juliennes.
In a mortar and pestle, pound unpeeled Thai garlic. Use just enough force to mash the garlic cloves, leaving the peels intact. Do not try to make a smooth paste. The peels will crisp fry and add a desired textural element.
Mix the skin, lemongrass, shallots, garlic, galangal, and ginger.
To a cold wok, add all the ingredients. Cover with cold oil and turn the heat to medium-low.
Stir constantly in one direction only until the ingredients are very light golden in color. They will develop a deeper color as they cool.
Strain and set aside.
Prepare the herbs:
Thinly slice the spring onion. Set aside.
Roughly chop the coriander leaves. Set aside.
Roughly chop the sawtooth coriander.
Roughly chop the Vietnamese coriander.
Pick small young mint leaves and use them whole. Larger leaves can be hand-torn. Set aside.
Combine the laap:
Add some of the oil from frying the aromatics to a cold wok; turn the heat to medium-low. Add bruised Thai garlic and fry until fragrant, then add the phrik laap and fry until fragrant.
Add the minced chicken meat and roast-fry until is cooked. Good heat control is essential; as you fry-roast, use water to deglaze and prevent the chicken from sticking to the wok. Continue to roast until the chicken is fully cooked and has absorbed a good amount of smoke.
Taste and adjust the seasoning to your liking. Adjust the spiciness with ground dried chilies.
Adjust saltiness with either fish sauce or makwen-infused fish sauce.
Adjust the spice aroma with the laap spices mix.
Adjust numbness with makwen.
Turn off the heat and add the chicken offal.
Add the tendons and cartilage, and the deep-fried crispy ingredients. Keep some of each for garnish.
Mix.
Add the herbs and mix well. Keep some for garnish.
Serve:
Serve garnished with crispy ingredients, herbs, and the remaining chicken parts.
Serve alongside phak gap laap (ผักกับลาบ) – fresh herbs and vegetables.
This laap dish offers a slightly different way to use the phrik laap seasoning mix. It is added to an aromatic paste made from roasted chilies, galangal, roasted shallots, and roasted garlic. The paste is enriched with coriander seeds, makwen and laap spices mix, which introduces the desired smoke and umami intensifying elements to the dish.
Duck laap, like other laap dishes, uses the whole duck, head to tail – including its meat, skin, internal organs, and bones. The recipe I provide below is modified for home-style cooking and uses duck parts; in the village environment, the duck is butchered and the bird is allowed to bleed completely, the blood is collected, and the bird is then cleaned and plucked.
Bitter buffalo laap with bile, cow’s gastric juice, and fresh blood. Buffalo meat is lean and often described as sweet.
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