Larb
Larb turns on one ingredient nothing can replace: khao khua, toasted rice ground to a coarse powder. It neither thickens nor seasons in the usual sense — it provides the crunch and nutty aroma that hold the whole salad together. The second surprise: the meat is not browned, but simmered in a little water so it stays pale and tender.
Your own work in that: 0 min.
- Toasted rice 10 min
- Meat 10 min
- Dressing 5 min
- Combining 5 min
Step by step
0 / 6 doneToast the raw rice dry
Put the raw glutinous rice in a dry pan, no fat, and toast for 8–10 minutes over medium heat, stirring, until the grains are deep gold and smell strongly of popcorn. Pale rice has none of the aroma this is for.
Ingredients: 3 tbsp glutinous rice
Deep gold, smelling of toasted corn.Grind to coarse sand
Cool and grind in a mortar or coffee grinder to a coarse, sandy powder — not flour. Ground too fine it dissolves into the dressing and disappears; it should stay perceptible between the teeth.
Ingredients: 3 tbsp glutinous rice
Coarse sand, not flour.Simmer the meat in water, do not brown it
Pour the water into a cold pan, add the meat and cook for 8 minutes over medium heat, breaking it into fine crumbs with a spatula throughout, until no trace of pink remains. Do not brown it — larb has pale, moist meat, and a seared flavour would cover the herbs and lime.
Ingredients: 500 g minced pork · 80 ml water
Pale, fine crumbs — no browning.Mix the dressing and check the balance
Whisk the fish sauce, lime juice, sugar and chilli. Taste: it should read sharply sour, then salty, then hot, in that order. Larb is seasoned to extremes because it is about to be spread through meat and herbs.
Ingredients: 3 tbsp fish sauce · 3 pcs limes · 1 tsp sugar · 1 tbsp chilli flakes · 4 pcs shallots · 4 pcs spring onions · 1 bunch mint · ½ bunch coriander
Combine over warm meat
Take the meat off the heat, wait 2 minutes and stir in the dressing, thinly sliced shallots, chopped spring onions and half the toasted rice. Add the mint leaves and chopped coriander at the very end — on hot meat mint quickly darkens and wilts.
Ingredients: 3 tbsp fish sauce · 3 pcs limes · 1 tsp sugar · 1 tbsp chilli flakes · 4 pcs shallots · 4 pcs spring onions · 1 bunch mint · ½ bunch coriander
Serve with the rest of the rice and lettuce
Scatter the remaining toasted rice immediately before serving so it keeps its crunch. Serve at room temperature with lettuce leaves for wrapping and slices of cucumber. Larb is not a hot dish.
Ingredients: 1 pcs lettuce · 1 pcs cucumber
Before you start
Toasted rice in advance
Toast and grind a larger batch — in an airtight jar it keeps a month. It is the same powder that goes into many Isan salads, so it will not go to waste.
Without fish sauce
For a vegetarian version use crumbled tofu or mushrooms in place of the meat, and soy sauce with a teaspoon of miso instead of fish sauce. Everything else stays — the ratio of lime to salt matters more than its source.
Heat and temperature
In Thailand larb can be very hot. If you are wary of heat, start with a teaspoon of chilli instead of a tablespoon and add more at the plate. Serve at room temperature — cold sets the fat from the meat, hot wilts the herbs.
