Over the weekend we my roommate and I had cravings for Lao food, but when we looked in the fridge we had nothing that resembled momma’s cooking.  We did find one of those rotisserie chickens hanging out on the top level of the fridge—cold, sad, plain, and uneaten. We had the idea to transform this chicken into a very quick version of laap gai—or Lao chicken salad.

First, we had to prepare the sticky rice. As we all know, sticky rice has to soak for at least an hour, otherwise you just cannot cook it. It also has to be washed and rinsed. We like shortcuts, so to speed up the process we soaked the rice in very hot water and let it sit for about 10-15 minutes. If my momma knew this I would be in big trouble.

While the rice was soaking, we re-heated the rotisserie chicken in the oven (it would have been quicker in the microwave). At this time, we sliced up all the other ingredients we had: shallots, cilantro, scallions, lime, chili peppers, and mint leaves. We also had roasted rice powder and fish sauce to give it some flavor.

By the time the rice was ready to be steamed, the chicken was ready to be pulled into pieces. We decided we didn’t want to mince the chicken. We mixed all the ingredients in and added the rice powder, fish sauce, and lime juice to taste. It was done to 30-minute perfection! Usually, cucumber slices and a side soup would complement this dish divinely.

This was a quick and easy 30-minute lunch we made with leftover rotisserie chicken, Lao style. We’ll be trying out more meal ideas for future posts!

~Danny