LARB? What is that? Where does it come from? Is it even food?!
Larb is a traditional meat salad from Laos, it has made its way throughout Asia and has many different variations. When I first head of it I have to admit I was skeptical myself. My son and I were watching Spider Man- Homecoming, and there is te scene with Aunt May, where they go to their favorite Thai restaurant , Peter orders Larb, which delights May. As we ere watching this, I googled it to see what it was, then quickly forgot all about it. Till one day my husband and I were watching Binging with Babish, on youtube, and there it was again. I told my husband ” I would so eat that!” So while I was making the family meal plan for the first half of the new year I decided to add it to the list. Let me tell you, I am so glad I did! So here is my version of Larb for all of you to try and enjoy!
Larb
Notes
This was a recipe I am pleased to say my whole family enjoyed! It is a combination of a traditional Laotian and That Larb that really had a lot of flavor and was filling. Need less food? Cut the recipe in half and it comes down to about 10 servings 😉
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon uncooked brown rice
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 2 pound ground pork (450g)
- ¼ teaspoon sugar
- 2 tablespoon fish sauce
- 2 tablespoon soy sauce
- 2 teaspoon wine vinegar [can be rice wine vinegar, white wine vinegar]
- 1 lime (juiced)
- 2 red chilies, dried or fresh (sliced or ground into small pieces)
- 3 shallots (peeled and thinly sliced)
- 3 scallions or fresh blooming chives (chopped)
- ¼ cup cilantro
- ½ cup mint [If desired]
- Kosher salt
- Jalapenos for topping
- Extra cilantro for topping
- 1-2 packages of Romaine Lettuce for serving
Instructions
- In a dry wok or pan over low heat, toast the rice grains, stirring continuously until they turn golden and fragrant––about 10 minutes.
- Grind to a coarse powder in a mortar & pestle. Or if you have a spice grinder you can use that as well to grind the rice into a rice powder.
- Set aside the rice powder for now.
- Place your wok back over high heat until smoking.
- Add the oil and the ground pork.
- Stir-fry until the pork is browned.
- Once the pork is browned add in the toasted rice powder, sugar, fish sauce, soy sauce and lime juice.
- Stir-fry for another minute, and then add in the chili, shallots, scallions, cilantro, and mint.
- Stir-fry for one more minute, and then taste for seasoning, adding more chili, sugar, fish sauce, soy sauce, and/or lime juice to your taste if needed.
- Serve with sticky rice, steamed brown rice, and/or lettuce leaves. Top with added cilantro, jalapenos, and lime as desired.
