Last week, Jenny Rosenstrach wrote about easy dinners that have been loved to death on Cup of Jo. For us, Bon Appetit's chicken larb is definitely the dinner that runs the risk of being loved to death.
So far, what’s saved it is that it’s such a malleable recipe and it can be served so many different ways, with rice, pickled onion, and lettuce; with mixed veggies and steamed greens; with rice and raw and pickled vegetables; and of, course, as a salad, pictured above.
Ingredients:
1 head of romaine lettuce
3 medium sized carrots, sliced into thin crescents
4 small cucumbers or newly pickled cucumbers, sliced into thin crescents
1 mango or about 1/2 cup of pickled mango, roughly chopped
4-6 scallions, diced, or snipped with kitchen scissors, separated whites from greens
1/3 of a cup of cilantro leaves or basil leaves, roughly chopped
4-6 cloves of garlic, crushed, or crushed and minced depending how how garlickly you like things
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons soy sauce or tamari
1 tablespoon sambal oelek
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
First, this is a recipe where doing all your chopping first is the best way to go, so:
Crush or crush and mince garlic, drop into wok or pan
Dice scallions, add the whites to the wok or pan and add the greens to salad bowl
Roughly chop cilantro or basil, add half to wok or pan and half to salad bowl
Slice carrots into thin crescents, add to salad bowl
Slice small cucumbers or newly pickled cucumbers into thin crescents, add to salad bowl
Roughly chop mango or pickled mango, add to salad bowl
Tear lettuce, add to salad bowl
Second, make your sauce: Mix together sugar, fish sauce, tamari, and sambal oelek.
Third, make the chicken larb: Add red chili flakes and oil to wok or pan and cook the garlic, green onions, cilantro or basil, and chili flakes on high heat for 2 minutes or so, until they are soft, fragrant, and the garlic is lightly browned. Add the ground chicken and per Bon Appetite cook until chicken is cooked through and lightly browned. Finally, add the sugar, fish sauce, tamari, and sambal olek mixture, and continue to cook for about another minute.
Add the entire wok or pan of chicken larb to your salad and toss allowing liquid to serve as dressing
Add the juice of 1 lime and salt and pepper to taste
Serves two.
Curious about one of my ingredients? Check out my notes or just ask.