The Magic of Lab: A Simple yet Delicious Thai Salad Recipe

As I began preparing this recipe, I couldn't help but feel excited about the simplicity and uniqueness of it all. The base of the dish is lab, a type of Thai salad that's both refreshing and flavorful. To make this salad, you'll need a few key ingredients, including thinly sliced lemongrass, toasted rice powder or "Kokua", dry chili flakes, and lime juice.

Thinly sliced lemongrass is here, and it will work just fine in this recipe. This is totally optional, but trust me when I say that it adds a nice depth of flavor to the dish. On the other hand, toasted rice powder or "Kokua" is not optional at all. It's an essential component of lab, and it's what sets this salad apart from others. To make your own "Kokua", you'll need uncooked rice - I prefer Jasmin or sticky rice - and a couple of kaffir lime leaves. Simply toast the rice over medium-high heat until it's nice and deep golden brown, then grind it up in a mortar and pestle or coffee grinder.

The result is basically magic powder - it's so nutty and aromatic that it'll add a little bit of texture to your lab as well. I like to use roasted chili flakes for the best flavor, and I'm not afraid to add as much as I want. These flakes are super spicy, so be careful when using them. Now that we have our ingredients, let's mix everything together.

The egg is just kind of lukewarm at this stage, so we can add it now. Lab is a very dry salad, and the lack of dressing is part of its charm. However, I will share my secret with you - the dressing for lab is incredibly simple. It's just fish sauce and lime juice. For the fish sauce, I'm using my luxury red boat fish sauce. This is not sponsored, but it is the most premium best quality fish sauce on the market.

I've finally been able to track down this amazing fish sauce after months of searching. It's worth every penny - in fact, it's so good that I reserve it for special occasions like a salad with fish sauce. If you haven't seen my fish sauce tasting video, check it out. I do a taste test of a whole range of fish sauces, and it's super interesting.

Now, some of you may think that the dressing doesn't look like much - but trust me when I say that the nature of the eggs is that they absorb everything you pour into them, so there's no need to worry about pooling at the bottom. And you can easily overdo it with the salad, so don't be afraid to experiment.

This lab dish is the best - egg dishes are always my favorite. I like to eat it on its own or with some hot jasmine rice, and I think it pairs perfectly with a little piece of cucumber and some fresh mint. The combination of mint and lime is just magical, and it's something that I've noticed before in mojitos.

If you make this recipe for your friends, I guarantee they'll be impressed. It's completely unique, and I'm so surprised at how quickly it came together. So, go ahead - give it a try! And don't forget to subscribe to the show, check out our patreon link, and click that little bell icon to make sure you get notified every time I post a new video.

The beauty of this recipe lies in its simplicity. By using a few key ingredients and combining them in a unique way, we've created something truly special. And that's what makes Thai cuisine so amazing - it's all about balance and harmony, and finding the perfect combination of flavors to create something truly delicious.

As I sit here enjoying my lab salad, I'm reminded of why I love cooking Thai food so much. It's not just about following a recipe or using exotic ingredients (although those things are nice too). It's about sharing something special with others - something that brings people together and makes them feel happy and content.

And that's exactly what this recipe is all about. So go ahead, give it a try, and see for yourself why lab salad is one of my favorite dishes to make. Trust me when I say that you won't be disappointed!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enSawaddee ka welcome to hot thai kitchen today I'm gonna show you a recipe for an omelet salad  yes now I know that sounds a little odd but stick with me it's super good so in Thai this is called  laab kai jiew so laab is a type of Thai salad that's from the Northeast Kai Jiew is a Thai omelet so lab  is typically made with ground meat but in my family we started subbing out the ground meat  with eggs because sometimes there just isn't any meat available but we always always have  eggs and it turned out to be pretty good so we just kept making it now I don't know if this is  on the other Thai house hosts also make but it's definitely something we make a lot so let's get  started so let's start with the omelet or the kite do which by the way just the kite do on  its own with some rice is some sriracha on it that's a perfect meal already but we're gonna  jazz it up today so that's three eggs here now usually I do is season with fish sauce  but because there's already a lot of fish sauce in the dressing of the salad I'm gonna change  it up and make it interesting with some oyster sauce it's not commonly done but I like to put  a little bit of oyster sauce in Mike I do I'm making this a little bit underseasoned okay so  if you were to make regular kpo you would need more seasoning than this but because there will  be addressing this needs to be a little muted so pull up your fork just to check to see if there  are any gloopy bits of egg whites ooh that's it looks good to me so I've got here a nonstick pan  and I actually like to do my kite do in a flat skillet rather than a wok cuz I can lift this up  and toss my omelet and flip and the wok is just too heavy for me to do that with comfortably so  I'm gonna turn this on don't be shy with the amount of oil as you can see I've got quite a  bit here if you don't have enough oil sometimes a kite deal gets it just feels really dry and  also it's just not as puffy it'll be a little more dense so I'm just get that hot you can  always do a little test by dropping a little nope when you drop a little bit of egg and it should  instantly react and poof up so now I'm gonna get rid of that little egg bit using a a skimmer and  special thanks to a hot Thai kitchen fan from New York City who sent me this cutest little skimmer  ever it's perfect for removing mini omelettes okay that looks good see it should pop up just  like that so now I'm gonna go in with all of my egg heat not too high otherwise it'll burn too  quickly and then so what I like to do is I get all this liquid stuff underneath so it cooks a little  quicker and you want to do this early on because otherwise like the two layers of eggs won't blend  in nicely but for this though we're cutting it all up and tossing into a salad so it doesn't  matter if it's all destroyed at this point which reminds me I should put on an apron for this it's  looking okay it's not too runny anymore at this point so I'm just gonna do a flip if you're not  comfortable flipping go ahead and like cut this thing in half and use a spatula if we're cutting  this all up at the end so it doesn't matter right one two three Oh beautifully golden brown unlike a  French omelet where you want it to be super lemony yellow we like our omelettes golden brown that's  where like the flavour is okay I'm just gonna turn this off now the residual heat will cook  the egg the rest of the way and I know it looks really exciting now cuz it's all puff fab do not  worry it'll deflate as soon as you get it out of the pan whoo look how pretty that is and look  how it just very quickly deflated do not worry that's just that's just what it does and if you  want you can just like go and dab some oil from the surface the excess oil but I don't like too  you know some of you might be tempted to just put some paper towel on here and put the egg on there  I find that that does absorb oil but it also kind of dries out the egg quite a bit so I just find  it this way you know you get rid of the pool any pooling oil on the surface but it doesn't just  dry the eggs out this smells so good the smell of kto just takes me right back home so you want to  just cut this up into bite-sized pieces for salad you can be neat about it you can roughly tear it  tight do is actually one of those dishes that like every kid learns how to make as like their first  thing I think this really was the very first thing I ever cooked okay this is still pretty  hot so I'm gonna just let that cool a bit let's take a look at the rest of the salad which is  super easy if you already know how to do lab this part is gonna be straightforward which reminds me  I need to get my herbs out of the fridge there we go okay so the herbs which is super common  to lab are mint cilantro and green onions if you don't like cilantro you don't have to add it if  you don't like green onions you don't have to add it but you have to add the mint that is the most  important ingredient here okay and to this I'm going to add some sliced cucumber now you don't  have to I just find that just the eggs and herbs alone it's a little heavy so I want something  crunchy in that mix some shallots this is also very very important if you can't find shallots  for whatever reason thinly sliced red onions will work just fine thinly sliced lemongrass here this  is totally optional this however is not optional and that is toasted rice powder or what we call  Kokua I've made this many time it's super simple you just take some uncooked rice could be Jasman  rice or sticky rice and then I like to throw in a couple of kaffir lime leaves in there  to add some flavor dry toast it over medium-high heat until it's nice and deep golden brown grind  that up in a mortar and pestle or you can feel use a coffee grinder and then what you have is  basically magic powder it's so nutty and aromatic it'll add a little bit of texture as well so good  and lab is always spicy but we never use fresh chilies for lab we always use dry chili flakes  now these are not a very good chili flakes the roasted chili flakes as much as you want this  is super spicy so I'm only going to a little bit all right so let's give this a quick mix so now  the egg is just kind of lukewarm so we can add those in now I know it's a very dry salad right  now because we haven't added our dressing and the dressing for lab is like it's as simple as it gets  just fish sauce and lie juice Kaizen we're going with the lime juice first for the fish sauce I am  using my luxury red boat fish sauce this is here I'll show you the bottle so I was finally able  to track down the most premium best quality fish sauce on the market fYI not sponsored this is the  most delicious fish sauce but it's also the most expensive so I reserve it for things like a salad  with a fish sauce it's like the main ingredient if you haven't seen my fish sauce 101 video check  that out I do is sort of a fish sauce tasting of a whole range of fish sauce it's super interesting  I'll put the link right up here if you missed that now some of you may think that that doesn't  look like a lot of dressing but the nature of the eggs is like a sponge everything you pour into it  gets absorbed right into the egg so you'll notice nothing is pooling at the bottom so that's why you  really don't need a lot and you can easily overdo it with the salad such simple goodness I mean egg  dishes are the best right because we always have eggs in the fridge now this I would either eat on  its own or with some hot jasmine rice is perfect as well but I'm gonna try it straight up for you  a little piece of egg some cucumber make sure you get some mint in there mmm the smell a flap cannot  mistake that for anything there is something about the combination of mint and lime and that just  goes so well together the tartness of lime and the refreshing cooling aroma of the mint mmm if you've  had a mojito you know what I'm talking about it works so well in this dish and I'm so surprised  how fast it came together and just how delicious it is which is some simple ingredients and trust  me if you make this for your friends it'll be completely unique I've never seen a restaurant  that sells this I've never even seen a restaurant in Thailand that's open so I hope you give this  a try the recipe as a way to be on a Thai Kitchen comm when you make it send me a photo on Facebook  Twitter or Instagram if you haven't subscribed to the show make sure you do so you don't miss  an episode and click that little bell icon to make sure you get a notification every time I  post a new video if you love the show and you want to support us check out our patreon link  in the description below and I will see you next time for your next delicious Thai meal\n"