Thai Minced Chicken Salad (Larp of Chiang Mai)

This is sooo good, I simply can't get enough of it. This is also when I discovered the yummiest secret ingredient - Toasted Ground Rice! Sprinkled over the salad the taste of the dish completely changes! I've known about this ingredient for a long time, but I've never tried it, now there's no turning back. It's recommended that you use Glutinous Rice for the ground rice, but I didn't have any. I figured Short Grain Rice would probably work just as well (maybe even normal Long Grain Rice would probably work too). I really don't know if it would've made a difference, but I'll try it next time just to see.

When I ground up the toasted rice, I was really surprised that it had a peppery fragrance. I now declare it as my new favourite 'ingredient'!

To toast the rice: put some uncooked rice in a dry pan over high heat and keep stirring until the rice has become nutty brown colour. Remove from heat, grind using coffee or spice grinder and store in a container to use whenever you like.

Recipe adapted from: Classic Thai Cooking Course by Kit Chan

Serves 4-6
Ingredients:
450g minced chicken/pork/duck/beef
1 stalk lemongrass, finely chopped
3 kaffir lime leaves, finely chopped
4 red chillies, chopped (optional: seeded)
4 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp roasted ground rice
2 spring onions, chopped
2 tbsp coriander leaves
mixed salad leaves, cucumber and tomato slices, to serve
a few sprigs of mint, to garnish

My Notes: I omitted the lemongrass because I don't fancy chewing lemongrass in my dish. I don't mind lemongrass as an ingredient as long as it can be fished out later. I also added more lime juice and fish sauce than recommended because I like more salt and sourness. And I also added a ton more ground rice just because it was that good!

Method:

1. Cook the mince chicken until brown. You can add some water if you wish and cook till the water has evaporated.
   
2. While the chicken is cooking, chop up all the other ingredients.
3. Transfer the chicken into a bowl and add all the other ingredients except for the mixed salad leaves, cucumber, tomato and mint.
4. Serve on the bed of salad leaves either at room temperature or cold.