“Laab” is a local dish in North and Northeastern Thailand which features minced meat and offal, either raw or cooked, and a variety of local seasonings. Some regions add bile, skins or blood to give the dish a different texture and certain recipes have been known to contain up to twenty, or even thirty different herbs and spices. Any kind of meat can be used with chicken, pork, beef, buffalo, or fish were commonly seen and game meat such as deer is not unheard of. Some of the more remote regions of Thailand have even been known to make the dish with tarantulas and a mushroom version is also becoming popular as a vegetarian option. The dish is usually served with fresh or boiled vegetables and various herbs. It can be said that this Laab menu encourages eating vegetables and herbs, adding vitamins and various nutrition to the body quite a lot.
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Health Benefits
‘Fried Laab Balls with Cannabis Leaves’, a Thai menu with universal appeal, contains flavorful spices, delicious pork and that added bonus of aromatic cannabis leaves. The naturally occurring THC in cannabis also works to help you relax and has been known to reduce anxiety, pain and muscle spasms in patients.
- ‘Cannabis leaves’ help relax, induce deep sleep, reduce nausea, vomiting, and stimulate appetite. They can also reduce inflammation, spasms, and have properties to inhibit the growth of many types of tumors.
- ‘Culantro’ helps relieve flu symptoms.*
- ‘Shallot’ helps prevent allergies, is an anti-inflammatonary and fights off bacteria and viruses.**
- ‘Kaffir lime leaves’ have antioxidant effects.***
- ‘Lime’ helps fight free radicals, reduces inflammation and repairs damaged cells from infection. It also inhibits the growth of the virus.****
- ‘Chili flakes’ help relieve flu symptoms and reduce mucus and phlegm.*****”
Ingredients
- minced pork 100 gr
- cannabis leaf 2 leaf
- ground toasted rice powder 5 gr
- lime juice 10 gr
- dried chili powder 2 gr
- culantro 5 gr
- fish sauce 20 gr
- kaffir lime leaf 2 gr
- shallot 10 gr
- side vegetables 2 gr
- carrot
- cucumber
- dried chilli 2 gr
Directions
Marinade the minced pork with the “larb” herbs and spices – ground toasted rice powder, chili powder, fish sauce, kaffir lime leaves, shallots and culantro.
Shape the pork mix into balls and wrap in cannabis leaves.
Fry the pork mix balls in oil in a pan.
Serve.
Reference
* Honeychurch P.N, 1980. Caribbean Wild Plants and Their Uses.
** Russo M, Spagnuolo C, Tedesco, The flavonoid quercetin in disease prevention and therapy: facts and fancies. Biochem Pharmacol. 2012;83(1):6-15.
*** Khaerunnisa S, et al. Potential Inhibitor of COVID-19 Main Protease (Mpro) from Several Medicinal Plant
Compounds by Molecular Docking Study. Preprints 2020
**** Hemilä H, Chalker E. Vitamin C for preventing and treating the common cold. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2013, 1. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD000980.pub4
***** vonne D., Ofelia G., Guillermo O., José P., & Tzayhrí G. (2014). Determination of Capsaicin, Ascorbic Acid, Total Phenolic Compounds and Antioxidant Activity of Capsicum annuum L. var. serrano by Mid Infrared Spectroscopy (Mid-FTIR) and Chemometric Analysis. Journal of the Korean Society for Applied Biological Chemistry, 57(1): 133-142.