This recipe is laab isaan or northeastern Thai laab. But if you've been to northern Thailand, you might have had a dish also called laab that tastes quite different from this one. Northern laab, or laab neua or laab kua, is a traditional dish of northern Thailand that also involves ground pork, but instead of being a salad, it is closer to a stir fry. It is loaded with a ton of dry spices, and those spices are the key ingredients of northern laab. I can't get some of those spices here in Canada, which is why I don't yet have a recipe for it!