Laab Pla Duk (Catfish Chopped Salad)

This is the 3rd recipe for laab/larb/laap that I’ve done now. It’s something we cook quite a lot in our house as it’s easy to do and is fresh tasting and filling too. It’s sort of a salad (but much better than that). Laab is a northern Thai dish and it can come in hundreds of varieties and variations. There’s even one that involves raw pigs blood (though I don’t think I’ll be giving that one a go!) This one made a good change from the chicken or pork versions I’ve done before and the grilled catfish adds a nice smoky depth to the dish. Serve with sticky rice to mop up and juices that are left.

For two people use:

• 1 whole catfish
• 4 (Thai) shallots, sliced
• 3 spring onions, chopped
• a dessert spoon of white rice (for making khao khua- toasted rice powder)
• a big sprinkle of chilli flakes
• a big splash of fish sauce (nam pla)
• juice of 1-2 limes
• 2 wedges of white cabbage
• a big handful each of herbs (I used Vietnamese mint and sawtooth culantro- regular mint and coriander are perfectly fine- I just get excited when I see Thai herbs)

Start with the catfish and get it out of the way- mine was jet black in colour and looked pretty angry- put it on foil and shove it under the grill quickly and grill until fully cooked and the skin is crispy, gently turn it over half way through the cooking; it should take 10-15 minutes altogether.
When the fish has cooled down, remove and discard the skin and pick all the flesh of the bones. Use a big knife to roughly chop the fish.
While the fish is cooling make Khao Khua (toasted rice powder). Heat the dessert spoon of rice in a dry wok and keep moving it until it starts to toast, becoming light brown and smelling slightly nutty, about 3-5 minutes. When it’s toasted, pour into a mortar and grind into a fine powder.
Add all the ingredients into a bowl (apart from the herbs and cabbage) and give everything a really good mix together. Serve with the cabbage wedge and herbs alongside.

Yam Neua Yang Nam Tok (Waterfall Grilled Beef Salad)

Leafy bland western salad VS pungent, fresh, filling Thai salad= no competition.

This dish shows why I love Thai salads so much. They’re incredibly healthy (yes lean beef is healthy) they punch weigh above their weight in flavours- mouth wateringly sour and tangy from the lime, aromatic and cleansing from the herbs, crunchy and crisp from the veggies, vibrant and warming from the chillies and feeling full afterwards.

There’s various debates about why this is called Nam Tok (waterfall) some say it’s because the meat is cooked rare and the juices drip out during the grilling, others because the beef is so juicy. If you’ve been following my blog recently, you’ll see this dish shares a lot of ingredients with the larb moo recipe that I posted a few weeks back.


Anyway, enough talk, for two people use:

• 2 small, very lean steaks


• ½ red onion, thinly sliced


• a big handful of coriander leaves


• 1 large red chilli, sliced


• 1 lemongrass stalk, trimmed, outer layer peeled off and sliced fine


• juice of 1 big lime


• a big splash of nam pla (fish sauce)


• a tablespoon of khao khua (toasted rice powder- see below)


• a few slices of cucumber (for the side of the plate)


• a small splash of dark soy sauce


• a small splash of light soy sauce


• a bigger splash of nam pla (fish sauce)

You want to get your steaks marinating first off. Pop them in a bowl, adding the two soy sauce and a good splash of fish sauce. Leave this for a while, while you prepare all the other ingredients and make the toasted rice powder.

For the khao khua (toasted rice powder); put a small handful of plain white rice into a dry wok and turn on the heat. Keep gently moving the rice round and after a few minutes, it will start to toast and have a good nutty smell. Once it’s reached a light brown colour, quickly pour the rice into a mortar before it starts to burn. Grind up the rice into a fine powder and keep in a sealed tub for when you need it.

So after the meat has marinated, lets say an hour or two. Heat a non stick frying pan up (no oil) or turn on the grill (whichever method you prefer). You want to cook the steak for only a minute or two either side so it ends up rare- medium rare. After the steak is cook, slice it into fine strips and put it, along with any juice into a bowl. Throw in the rest of the ingredients (onions, chillies, coriander, lemongrass, lime juice, fish sauce and the rice powder) mix very quickly together and serve on a plate with the cucumber slices on the side.

Laab Moo (Chopped Pork Salad) Version 2

Laab Moo (Pork Salad) version 2


Some of you that have been following me since the early days may have seen my first incarnation of laab which although I really like this version, isn’t quite laab, though it does share some similarities. I guess this version demonstrates that less is sometimes more. It’s crunchy, tangy, spicy and fragrant and ridiculously easy to make.



For two use:

• 200g pork mince


• half a red onion, finely sliced or 8 Thai shallots


• 2 spring onions, finely chopped


• a handful of mint leaves


• a few sprigs of coriander, roughly torn


• a spoonful (your choice) of chilli flakes or chopped red chillies


• juice of 1 lime


• a big splash of fish sauce


• a pinch of sugar


• a spoonful of ground toasted rice (see below)


• a small amount of oil for frying

Heat a wok and add the spoonful of uncooked rice, keep the rice moving and toast it until it turns to a light brown and smells nutty. Pour the toasted rice into a mortar and grind into a reasonably fine powder. Set aside for a moment.

Back in the wok, heat the oil and when hot, fry the pork, breaking it up as it cooks. When it’s cooked turn it out into a bowl along with all the other ingredients. Mix well and serve.