Ingredients
2-3 tablespoons lime juice
2-3 tablespoons chicken stock
2-3 tablespoons fish sauce - nam pla
4-6 teaspoons ground red chilies (not to be substituted with "chilli powder" as sold in western supermarkets!)
1 tablespoon khao koor (ground toasted rice--see below)
3-4 shallots (small purple or red onions) chopped
half a stalk of lemon grass very thinly sliced
3 kaffir lime leaves, shredded
1-2 spring onions, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon galangal, finely chopped
4 ounces of chicken, ground or finely chopped

Side dish - Raw vegetables
4 ounces long beans, cut into 3" sticks
4 ounces chinese leaves or raw white cabbage
3 whole stems Thai basil
5 ice cubes, broken but not crushed
serve the vegetables on a bed of ice

Garnish
coriander leaves, Thai Mint, lime wedges

Method
1. Line a serving dish with the lettuce leaves
2. In a fairly hot wok with a very small amount of oil, stir fry the chicken until it just starts to turn whitish
3. add all the remaining ingredients
(if using precooked meat, simply 4. add everything to a hot wok together), and stir until heated through and the chicken is cooked.

Serve on the bed of lettuce leaves and garnish to taste.
Serve with steamed sticky rice, a dish of mixed "raw" fresh vegetables and Thai table condiments.

The usual way to eat this is to take a small ball of sticky rice in the fingers and use it to pick up a little laab, then eat it with the raw vegetables.
You can also use a fork and spoon as a lot of Thais do.

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Khao Koor:
1. get a medium sized wok fairly hot
2. add a couple of tablespoons of uncooked thai jasmine rice or uncooked glutinous rice.
3. Keep in movement until the rice starts to turn golden brown.
4. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
5. Grind to a fairly coarse powder in a spice mill, or a mortar and pestle, or a blender or a good clean coffee grinder

(all of these work well but keep in mind that a coffee grinder tends to grind too fine--the powder should retain some "texture").

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