Thai Laap Hed

“Laap Hed” ( ลาบเห็ด ) is a Thai salad with chopped mushrooms, like other variations of Laap, it originates from the region of Isaan. Traditionally, it’s prepared with different regional mushrooms that are grilled before chopping.

I’d like to present you a recipe for Laap Hed using mushrooms that are available in any supermarket. For simplicity, I’ve chopped the mushrooms with a kitchen cleaver while they’re still raw and then cooked them in a pan with some ground pork.

For preparing Laap, you need Khao Khua, which I usually keep in stock, but you can also prepare it fresh. You should do this first, as preparing this powder is somewhat more involved and the salad should be served warm later.

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Preparation

First, we should thoroughly clean the mushrooms. Then we chop them with the kitchen cleaver into small pieces. Then we put the oil in a large pan and add the chopped mushrooms once it’s hot.

Once the mushrooms have softened, we add the ground pork, mix it thoroughly with the chopped mushrooms and continue cooking everything until the pork is cooked through.

While the mushrooms and pork are cooling slightly in the pan, we prepare the herbs. First, we peel the shallot and cut it into thin rings. Then we also cut the spring onions into thin rings. Finally, we pluck the mint leaves from their stems and cut them into thin strips.

Now we put the mushrooms together with the pork and herbs in a bowl. Then we squeeze the lime and mix its juice with the fish sauce. We add the chili powder to this mixture and stir it. We then pour this dressing over the salad and mix everything thoroughly.

Finally, we arrange the salad on a plate and sprinkle the roasted rice powder over it. We serve our Laap Hed immediately while it’s still slightly warm.