Super excited to be sharing another yummy 30 min meal today! Perfect in time for summer, and it literally requires 5 minutes of cooking, which will keep you (and your house) nice and cool.

This dish is my take on Thai Laab / Larb, and it’s packed with flavor. Paired with leafy greens (I use little gems, but you can use romaine), mint, rice, and papaya salad, it’s truly a magical combination. Several people have tried this recipe and they all gave it a thumbs up.

Chef tips:

• You can replace the salmon with ground chicken or ground pork. Be sure to season the salmon, chicken, or pork with salt. The sauce is known to be flavorful, but the protein still needs additional seasoning, and paired with the sides, it’s perfect.

• HERBS – don’t skip them. They are what make this dish beautiful and fresh. I used mint, scallions, and cilantro, but feel free to add in Thai basil if you like.
• If you don’t have fish sauce in your pantry, feel free to substitute with soy sauce. However, if doing this, reduce the lime juice in half (fish sauce is extra salty and needs the extra acidity to balance out the sauce).
• You might have extra green beans from this recipe – yes, I know 1/2 cup is a small amount, but I like having just a little bit of the green bean texture in this salad. Use the rest of your green beans in my Chinese dry fried garlic green beans recipe!
• For a vegetarian version, replace salmon with 2 ears of corn (kernels cut off the cob) and 1 lb of firm tofu. You can replace the fish sauce with a vegetarian fish sauce, or use soy sauce and reduce the lime juice in half. Other guidance still apply.

How to make the 30 minute Thai inspired Salmon and Rice- Step by Step Instructions:

Step 1: Chop the salmon into ½” cubes.

Step 2: Prepare the larb sauce – mix together the fish sauce, lime juice, brown sugar, water, minced garlic, and ginger. You can also blend this together in a food processor if you have.

Step 3: In your saute pan, add a tablespoon along with the oil, the sliced shallots, scallions, and chopped salmon. Add a big pinch of salt and cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Then, add in ⅓ cup of the larb sauce, the chopped cilantro and mint. Mix together.

Vegetarian Option

Step 1: Cut the kernels off the corn cob.

Step 2: Split firm tofu into smaller pieces

Step 3: Make the larb sauce and replace fish sauce with vegetarian fish sauce, or use soy sauce and reduce the lime juice in half

Step 4: In your saute pan, add the corn kernels, scallions, and the tofu and stir. Then, add in larb sauce and chopped cilantro. Mix together and plate.

Storage and Reheating

Storage: Store the bowl in an airtight container for up to 4 days in the fridge. For Jackie’s Supper Club, we stored the rice and salmon in one container, the greens and mint in another container, and the papaya salad (tossed in sauce) in its own container. You can keep the papaya salad separate from the sauce if you prefer crunchier cucumbers, but it was still great tossed in the sauce even after 3-4 days.

Reheating: Reheat the salmon in a pan on medium high heat until warm. Heat the rice separately with a splash of water.

Substitutions or modifications

For the Salmon:

• salmon – can sub pork, chicken, tofu & corn
• herbs – mint, thai basil, cilantro, green onion – can use any combination of these, or basil
• shallot – can sub red onion
• little gem lettuce – can use any type of lettuce
• jasmine rice – can also use sticky rice, brown rice, or glutinous rice

Sauce (for both the salmon and the papaya salad):

• garlic – can skip or sub 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• fish sauce – can sub soy sauce BUT you need to reduce lime juice in half
• lime juice – can sub rice vinegar
• brown sugar – can skip or sub maple syrup or honey
• Ginger – can sub or sub 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• red chili flake or 1 thai chili – can skip or sub 1 tablespoon sriracha

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