Thai cuisine · Salads & Mezze

Laab Hed

Finely chopped mushrooms briefly cooked and mixed with toasted rice powder, chili and herbs into a hearty meat-free laab.

Ingredients · for 4 servings

• 250 g button mushrooms
• 200 g oyster mushrooms
• 200 g shiitake mushrooms
• 3 tbsp jasmine rice (raw, for toasted rice powder)
• 1.5 tbsp chili powder
• 4 tbsp lime juice
• 3 tbsp light soy sauce
• 4 shallots
• 3 spring onions
• 1 bunch mint
• 1 bunch cilantro
• 1 tsp sugar

Instructions

1. Toast the raw jasmine rice in a dry pan for 8–10 min., stirring, until golden brown and nutty-smelling, then pound to a coarse powder in a mortar.
2. Clean the mushrooms, remove the shiitake stems and finely chop all the mushrooms with a knife until they have the texture of coarse ground meat.
3. Heat a wide pan hard without fat and fry the mushrooms for 5–6 min. until the released water has evaporated and they start to brown on the bottom.
4. Remove the pan from the heat and mix the mushrooms immediately with soy sauce, lime juice, sugar and chili powder while still hot.
5. Slice the shallots into thin rings, cut the spring onions into rings and fold both in with two-thirds of the toasted rice powder; let sit for 2 min.
6. Fold in the roughly chopped mint and cilantro, sprinkle with the remaining toasted rice powder and serve warm with sticky rice and cucumber slices.