What Is Kao Yum Gai Sab?
This is another spicy lab dish from Thailand. We call it Crispy Fried Chicken in Lab. Or Lab Crispy Fried Chicken, up to you. Also up to you is how you attempt to spell it in English as there are at least different spellings – Laab, Larp, Lab, Larb, Laab, Laap, Lap, Lahp, and Lahb!
To be honest, Lahp sounds most like it, but more Thai food blogs are using Lab, so that’s what we’ll use. We know the Thai for it anyway!
ข้าวยำไก่แซ่บ
Sab means sour and spicy.
Khao Yum Gai Sab is a spicy Thai rice salad with chicken. It’s a vibrant and flavorful dish that combines rice, vegetables, and a zesty dressing, creating a satisfying and refreshing meal.
The dish typically features cooked jasmine rice as the base, combined with shredded boiled chicken, various fresh vegetables like cucumber, bean sprouts, long beans, and aromatic herbs such as lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, and cilantro.
What makes Khao Yum Gai Sab stand out is its tangy and spicy dressing. The dressing often includes a combination of ingredients like lime juice, fish sauce, chili peppers, garlic, shallots, and sometimes palm sugar. This mixture of flavors creates a spicy, sweet, sour, and savory taste profile that’s characteristic of Thai cuisine.
Everything is tossed together, allowing the flavors to blend harmoniously. The result is a salad that’s bursting with freshness, bold flavors, and textures. It’s a dish that’s not only delicious but also offers a healthy balance of ingredients, making it a popular choice in Thai cuisine for those seeking a flavorful and nutritious meal.
For our family, this one is one of our top 20 meals we can have for lunch or dinner at our home. All of our relatives love it so it’s always a winner when someone cooks it. Though Lab traditionally comes from Isaan – the northeast part of Thailand, people all over the country enjoy it and eat it often.
Preparation for Yummy Crispy Fried Chicken Lab
Group 1
- Chicken Breast – 7-10 sliced
- Rice Flour – All-purpose white flour. We use rice flour, you can use that or wheat flour.
- White Pepper – 1 tbsp. of finely ground pepper powder.
- Egg – 1 beaten to mush!
- Vegetable Oil
Group 2
- Shallots – 2 tbsp. of sliced.
- Coriander and Scallion – 2 tbsp. sliced.
- Chili Powder – 1 tsp.
- Fish Sauce – 2 tbsp.
- Lime Juice – 2 tbsp. lime or lemon juice. Fresh is best, but OK if from a bottle.
- Thai Jasmine Rice – 1 tbsp. roasted and crushed, uncooked rice.
- Sugar – 1 tsp. white or brown sugar (optional). If I cook for my family, I don’t use any.
- Mint Leaves – 5-10
Crispy Fried Chicken Lab Cooking Instructions
1. Soak the chicken in some salted water for 10-20 minutes. Then remove and dry the chicken well with a paper towel.
2. Dip the chicken in the egg that you already beat (Use a spoon to beat it and decrease the bubbles as much as possible. After that drop the chicken into flour. Then, drop it into the egg again. Last, drop it in the flour for the second time. Do this piece by piece.
The first thing is to fry the chicken. There is no right portion to prepare the tempura flour as all-purpose flour would give the best result. You will only need to mix the flour with white pepper powder, add more or less in the way you like it.
3. Now, turn on the pan with maximum heat. Add a lot of vegetable oil (or just enough to soak the whole piece of chicken). When the pan and vegetable oil are really hot, drop the chicken in and lower the burner down to minimum heat. Fry the chicken until the flour turns gold then remove it from the pan.
4. Next, add fried chicken to a big bowl. Add shallot, sliced coriander and scallion, and mint.
5. In a different bowl, add fish sauce, lime juice, sugar, roasted and crushed uncooked rice, and chili powder. Now pour it in a bowl of fried chicken. Mix quickly and arrange on a plate.
6. Serve it with hot Thai Jasmine rice and sliced tomatoes for the best presentation and experience.
