Fiery chicken laab with extinguishing salad | from Crave
If you're craving chilli and heat ...
This is a sample of the kind of recipe you can expect on Rocket & Squash, A Cook's Digest. I hope you enjoy it.
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This is a recipe extracted from my cookbook Crave; recipes arranged by flavour, to suit your mood and appetite (Quadrille 2020). As the title suggests, the book is divided into six flavour profiles. This sits within the Chilli and Heat section.
Crave was named “Cookery Book of the Year” at the 2021 Fortnum and Mason Food and Drink Awards. Photo credit: Sam A Harris.
“Just to warn you, the laab is very hot.” If advice like this from a waiter serves as attraction rather than a repellent, then this is for you.
I love a northern Thai or Laos-style laab; the minced meat or fish cooked relatively dry, fragrant with garlic and lemongrass, plus fresh mint and holy basil… and enough chilli to make your eyeballs sweat. This is the addictive kind of heat that can seemingly only be cooled by eating more of the same.
Sticky rice and a glass of milk would be one way of putting out the fire. But a laab is technically a salad, and pairing it with cooling cucumber, more of that Thai basil, and a crunchy lettuce is a good way to temper the heat. Wedges of unfashionable iceberg lettuce are perfect here.
Gem, cos or romaine all work too. The ground roasted rice is essential, both texturally and to bind the flavours.
Here’s the recipe: