Chicken Mint Salad - Northern Thai Laap

This dish comes from Northern Thailand where I lived for six years. It is most commonly made with ground pork but is just as yummy using ground chicken or turkey. I thought this would be the perfect time to post this as mint is beginning to pop up in our gardens and this is a great way to use it. Sidenote: it was my Mom's favourite Thai dish.

A mortar and pestle is nice to have for this recipe but if you don't have one, don't despair, you could use a coffee grinder or a meat mallet (flat side) and a ziploc. You have to crush some browned raw rice - weird but true. You'll be happy you did.

Baking the chicken makes this a very easy and efficient dish. You can make it ahead of time and keep it in the fridge. You don't want it to be cold when you serve it, nor hot, so it is best to let it get to room temperature.