Turkey & Prawn Laab [Quickest Ever!]

I love Laab ...

From my first go to revisiting just that, I've made up Laab a number of times, but this is my quickest yet.

End of the week, home, the pressures of work dropped and ready to enjoy a great evening and weekend ahead, we need quick food.

Here's how:

• Meat - Minced turkey or pork (for speed), prawns, perhaps white fish
• Flavours - Fish sauce, spices, black pepper, chillies, lime or lemon
• Vegetables - Anything, diced or sliced
• Fat - Coconut oil

In a skillet, warm the fat, fry off the meat, add the prawns, add your flavours and add your vegetables.

I don't think there are many rules, just put some minced meat, flavours and vegetables into a pan, cook through and eat. Little prep, quick frying and get stuck in as fast as you can ...

I went with spring onions, green beans and bell peppers, all thinly sliced across the bias, turkey mince, prawns, fish sauce, ground coriander, chillies, black pepper and lime juice.

Alongside, I made a nice cucumber raita for alongside and served with lettuce leaves.

Turkey Laab & Sweet Potato

It's Thursday and with my other fencing class this evening, I need to feed up after work quickly and have some time to rest beforehand.

Baked sweet potato is fast becoming a favourite, the energy release slow and constant through the evening.

Keeping a regular meal interesting is simply a case of putting the thing you like the most about it with something else each time. I know that sounds kind of "Well, duh!" but often folks miss the obvious, thinking variation comes from bringing something new every time. Just combine and re-combine your favourite elements.

I've made Laab a couple of times now and really enjoyed it. It's a simple Thai/Lao dish of cooked minced meat and flavour - simple.

As mentioned, the other constraint is time ...

After a day at work, the commute home and then the pressure of getting something cooked, eaten, get ready and get back out on the road by seven thirty is a challenge. Yes, I could cook something beforehand just to warm up and yes, I could take something to work to eat at, say, four o'clock, but I like something freshly cooked, so quick & easy is the key.

Seafood works ... so does fine meats, like fillet ... so does turkey mince.

Turkey mince is superb and, without going into every part of the nutritional profile, basically, it's a good, almost pure protein. It cooks quickly and has a great texture without requiring the longer cooking that minced beef does.

So, we need to cook something quickly ... here's 30 minutes.

First, the sweet potato ...

Begin by setting the oven to 220C (425F).

Take a large sweet potato and cut it in half longways ... might as well do two large ones, since there'll be leftovers which will do well for lunch tomorrow. Grease a tray with your favourite paleo fat (goose fat, in my case) and place the sweet potatoes face side down, forking the backs all over.

Let them cook ... they'll be done after about half an hour, retaining some good texture.

Now, the Laab ...

Take a large skillet, some of your favourite paleo fat (since turkey is very lean) and brown off the turkey mince. I used 500g for two and we have sufficient leftovers for lunch, along with another sweet potato half. As you brown the mince, break it up and keep breaking it up until you've got a good ground texture.

Turn the heat down.

Now, flavours: fish sauce, ground coriander, black pepper, chillies and, traditionally, lime juice which I used Yuzu instead. That's it. Done. Easy, eh?

Finally, the salad ...

While sweet potato and this Laab would make a fine meal, some cooling salad flavours are always going to be good.

I went with a few slices of cucumber, shredded into matchsticks, shredded spring onions and a tomato, chopped. Need more fat? Have an avocado, too.

Ready to eat?

Lay the sweet potato onto the plate and push some butter in (optional), spooning the Laab over. Avocadoes around the edge, salad scattered over.

Toppings? We have some Cottage Cheese, too, and a pickled chilli as garnish.

Fuelled up ... time to get out there and stab friends in the chest for the evening ...

Laab ... Revisited

Last week, I cooked something I'd never cooked before: Laab.

Thai/Lao dish of simply cooked minced meat and some flavour. I also tossed in some prawns, just because, which would work perfectly well with beef or bird mince, mine was with turkey.

Slosh in a little fish sauce, fresh ginger, garlic and chilli, lime juice, fresh coriander and spring onions at the end. Ground coriander and cayenne pepper also went into mine. Easy as ... and so good!

I don't think there are any rules, so to speak, it's minced meat and flavours. I also added some diced cucumber.

Friday night is normally our Chilli night, but this is so good I had to repeat ...

Tonight, though ... fusion? Perfect with some guac!

Laab

I am not at all au fait with Thai food, so please excuse me if I completely misunderstood this ... I hope I got it right. If not, I've come up with something quite wonderful!

I have had it in mind to do something with minced meat and prawns for some time. The idea sat on a back-burner for a while and with revived interest set about reading up on how to make something really tasty based around that idea.

One thing led to another and I found a dish called Laab.

Thai, also Lao, Laab is a simple meat and rice dish served with a salad.

There appears to be little by way of a "standard", so I just thought ... what the hell ... I'll use what I want to use and spice it up.

Looking at all manner of recipes, the spicing appears simple: chilli; flavour enhancement: fish sauce.

I went with minced turkey breast, fancying something a little different, boosted with some prawns, filled out with shredded spring onions and cucumber, then just the fish sauce, chilli, garlic, ginger, squeeze of lime and fresh coriander.

Let's begin ...

Cook off the mince in a large skillet, oiled with a little coconut oil.

Once cooked through and with a nice grainy texture, add in some prawns and some fish sauce. Don't over-do it, though - fish sauce is salty!

Once the prawns are warmed through, add in the spiciness: ginger, garlic, spring onions and chilli.

Shred up some spring onions and fine dice some cucumber. The cucumber was in there as a feint attempt to bring the saltiness down a little; I perhaps over-did the fish sauce or maybe the primal palate is not used to it.

Ready to eat?

Serve out with some lettuce leaves having given the food a squeeze of lime juice and a garnish of fresh coriander.

Laab is often served with rice. While this is perfectly primal, it wasn't necessary for us today. Maybe another time.

This might well become one of my new favourite dishes - the combinations, taste experiences and subtle flavours that can be put in are almost endless ...

Thai Green Mussels

It is said that you should try something new ...

I googled for a suitable quote, but after reading several hundred witticisms, I decided it was probably more a pretentious way of opening than clever.

Besides, "a witty saying proves nothing" - Voltaire.

While we're talking about quoting other people, this dish was lifted lock, stock and wholesale from my paleo pals over at Modern Paleo Warfare whose recent article, 'Smell My Fingers' detailed this very dish.

Googling, it seems a fairly straight down the line Thai dish and so knowing nothing about Thai food whatsoever, it's time to dive straight in and see what all the fuss is about ...

First, the mussels.

Mussels are a good source of metabolism and immune system stimulating selenium, vitamin B12, zinc, folic acid, iron, calcium and omega-3.

Archaeological evidence is finding this food to have been consumed by humans for more than 20,000 years, which is actually relatively new in paleo timescales, but still something we have eaten for a good, long time, and although much of what is sold is farmed mussels, they're still about as good as they are in the wild.

Buy some good mussels, as fresh as you can get so that there are few wasted. I adore mussels and eat them often. I have bought mussels where I have thrown away literally half due to them being unsuitable for eating, leaving a meagre dish, but tonight was quite the opposite - I found 3 ... out of (guessing) 60 which were unsuitable!

Tip out the mussels into a container and inspect each one - if they're cracked, discard them; open and do not close up after tapping, discard them. Pull the beards off - this is the hairy bit that sticks out.

Rinse the mussels well under clean water to ensure the shells are cleaned - the steaming sauce is as much a part of the dish as the mussels themselves. The keen eared among you will hear the mussels moving about; there will be a gentle creaking, crackling sound. These are the mussels you want to eat! The live ones.

Next, make up a paste.

Having never made Thai green paste, I looked it up and had most of the ingredients, perhaps with the exception of fish sauce, which I think is sour and pungent, so left it out - there were plenty of aromatic, sharp, pungent ingredients anyway.

I had some greens from spring onions, chillies, ginger, wild garlic, garlic cloves, lime, shallot, basil and coriander. Blending the lot together with a little coconut milk and a sprinkle of cumin and white pepper, I had my paste.

To work ...

In a lidded sauté pan melt some coconut oil, soften some shredded leek and pour in some coconut milk - I used the remainder of the can, so about 400ml. Bring to the boil.

Toss in the mussels and put the lid on.

After a few minutes, more than 3 or 4, much less than 10, the mussels will be cooked. They will be open. As soon as they've all had a chance to open, remove the lid, enjoying that heady steam and pour out into a bowl.

I had so many of these damn things that I had to make two sittings. Seriously, I must have had 60 mussels? It's not greedy, it's gorging when times are good and food is plentiful ... ready for the fast. Part of my thrust towards seasonal eating will mean that out of season, I will not be seeing such foods so enjoying even a surplus at the time is perfectly good!

Pause for breath ... slug down the sauce ... burp!

To be absolutely frank, I didn't enjoy them like this.

I did taste the green paste on its own and really enjoyed that. Coconut milk is not something I particularly go out of my way partake of, but wouldn't say I don't like it. Together, yes, they worked ... well, of course they do: Thai food is very popular and this simple combination of flavours is well renowned.

It's just not for me ...

Back to shallots, garlic, chervil, cream and Normandy cider next time.

Fun, nevertheless!