You’re probably familiar with larb or laab (actually pronounced laab; without the R), a minced meat salad with fresh herbs, lime, chilies, and toasted rice powder. This style of laab is from the Isaan (ee-san) or eastern region of Thailand. There is a lesser known laab style from the north that is completely different from what most are used to outside of Thailand.
Unlike laab isaan which is served room temperature, northern-style laab kuaw (laab nuer) is a hot laab dish made of minced meat that has been marinated in a mixture of dried chilies, mahkwan (Thai star anise), mahleep (long pepper), lemongrass, and a touch of raw blood (check out my Lanna 101 article to learn more about northern Thai food). The most common is ground pork but you can also find it made with water buffalo and beef. At home, we add stewed pork skin and pork offal for additional texture. When we’re feeling a bit unconventional, we’ll add a splash of lime juice for an added tang.
The raw mixture is stir-fried in oil with garlic and then topped with vietnamese cilantro (ram rau), culantro (sawtooth coriander), cilantro, and mint. It’s served with crispy garlic, fresh cabbage, and more herbs. And of course eaten with hot sticky rice and crunchy pork rinds.
