Chicken on Rice, Thai Style

Lax-C is a warehouse-style market in downtown Los Angeles where you can buy almost anything required for Asian cooking. Tucked in a corner of this vast space is Lax-C B-B-Q Express, which sells Thai food to go including cooked dishes and a great variety of sweets. One day’s selection included tod mun gai--sliced chicken on rice, garnished with cucumber slices and accompanied by a spicy dipping sauce. This is the Thai version of Hainan chicken rice, a Chinese food-stall favorite in Singapore. The chicken is poached, producing the broth that is used to cook the rice. Thais make the dip with black bean sauce, fish sauce, sweet soy sauce, ginger, lime juice and plenty of super-hot Thai chiles.

Tod mun gai (Thai chicken and rice), $3.50 at Lax-C B-B-Q Express, located inside Lax-C market, 1100 N. Main Street, Los Angeles. (323) 343-9000.