Lao Laab Gai with black chicken and Soup. Lao chicken salad with herbs. Delicious and refreshing.

Laab Gai & Kang
Let’s talk about one of the most popular dishes in Laos. It’s an herb salad with your choice of meat called laab. You can use any type of meat, from beef to fish. The herbs are what makes this dish stand out. Imagine the first bite. The flavor of a slightly saltey combined with citrus lime taste. Then you get a burst of herbs and heat that is infused together. Both refreshing and tasty.
The amazing experience doesn’t end there!! The laab is almost always paired with Kang which means soup. The reason why it comes with soup is because there are bones left from the meat. So, it’s only natural to make soup with the bones. The soup is so aromatic because of the herbs like galangal and lemongrass. It’s subtle yet gives a huge impact on the laab. Like most Laos food don’t forget the sticky rice. It’s the best rice to eat the best dish with.
I choose to make laab gai (chicken) and the kang. I usually get the regular brown chicken at a place called Poultry King here in Fresno, Ca. It is always busy and when I finally got to order. They only have the black Silkie chicken and a smaller kind of brown chicken left. I wanted to try something different, so I got the Silkie chicken. If you didn’t know about Silkie chicken, it is known in China for making herbal soups. In the end It is a flavorful chicken. It tastes the same as the regular brown chicken. Your chicken must be the ones at the Asian store. It is usually at the freezer section and has the whole body intact including the head and feet.
When it comes to herbs there is only a few that is a must. The main ones are onions, cilantro, and spearmint. The rest of the herbs you can pick it to your liking. My laab has a lot of herbs because I just love it. So, feel free to adjust anything. Now I hope I have inspired you to make laab with the soup!!!
Ingredients********
1 whole Silkie or Brown chicken
2 breast and 5 pieces of gizzards
Broth************
1 lemongrass stalk
8 slices of galangal
2 cilantro root or 10 stems
10 cups of water
4 mustard green leaves
½ large yellow onion
10 cherry tomatoes
2 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. fish sauce
Laap**************
2-3 green onions
1 bunch cilantro
1 bunch spearmint
1 bunch Vietnamese coriander ( rau ram)
4 Chinese long bean
Laap sauce *********
2-3 tbsps. Padek (fermented fish)
1 tbsp. fish sauce
1 tsp. chicken bouillon or msg
¼ cup roasted rice ( Southeast Asian markets have this or you can make at home)
1 tsp. ground chili for mild or 1 tbsp. for spicy
1 whole lime
Steps for Laab*************
1. Boil water about 10 cups. Put 4 slices of galangal, 1 whole lemongrass stalk cut in 2 or 3, and cilantro roots.
2. Chop your chicken, debone the leg quarter and breast. Keep the skin.
3. Take all you parts (except the breast and leg quarter) put in the pot of lemongrass, galangal, and cilantro stalks. The gizzards should go in too.
4. Put the breast and leg quarter meat in the oven. On broil at 375 degrees for 20 mins.
5. Put the other 4 slices of galangal in the cok ( mortar) and smash it. Put it to the side.
6. Chop the green beans, cilantro, green onions in ¼ inch.
7. Pick out the leaves from herbs and roughly chop.
8. The baked chicken should be done. Make sure to check on it even at 15 mins. It should be moist. Allow to cool down.
9. Take the skin and gizzards out of the pot. Let it cool.
10. Take the skin and slice it ¼ inch. Gizzards should be sliced thinly
11. The breast and leg quarter needs to be chopped with a butcher knife.
12. Put all chicken parts to the side.
13. Time to make the sauce. Put in padek, salt, fish sauce, and msg. You can choose to replace with chicken bouillon.
14. To put it all together get a large bowl and add all chopped chicken.
15. Then add wet sauce, roasted rice, and chili peppers.
16. Mix it well, now add the veggies and herbs.
17. Mix the whole salad again.
18. Get 1 cup of hot broth first and add to salad. If it is still dry add another ½ cup. Your salad should be moist and slightly watery. Not like a soup.
Yay the salad is all done!!! It’s soup time!!!
1. The soup should be boiling on medium for 40 mins. total.
2. For the flavor you can start by putting 2 tsp. of salt. Then get fish sauce and adjust according to taste.
3. If you like your soup more sour, add tamarind that comes dry in a package. You can get it at a Southeast Asian store.
4. 30 mins before, add the big onion and the cherry tomatoes.
5. 35 mins. Into soup add the mustard greens and white part of green onions.
Now all you have to do is garnish the soup with green onions and cilantro.
I hope you guys enjoy this recipe as much as I do!!! Enjoy!!!

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