Larb Moo with Toasted Rice and Fresh Herbs

⏱ 30 min · Serves 4

Thailand's punchiest salad: crumbly pork tossed in lime and fish sauce, sparked with chilli and shallot, and given its signature nutty crunch by home-toasted rice powder. Fifteen minutes of work for an explosion of sour, salty, hot and fragrant.

Per serving: 365 kcal · 28.0g protein · 12.0g carbs · 22.0g fat

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp uncooked sticky (glutinous) rice, or jasmine rice
• 500g minced pork (not too lean, ideally 15% fat)
• 4 tbsp lime juice (about 2-3 limes)
• 3 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tsp caster sugar
• 1-2 tsp Thai roasted chilli flakes (prik bon), to taste
• 3 shallots, thinly sliced
• 3 spring onions, thinly sliced
• 1 lemongrass stalk, tender core very finely sliced (optional)
• 1 large handful mint leaves
• 1 large handful coriander leaves, roughly chopped
• 4 tbsp water or unsalted chicken stock
• To serve: wedge of white cabbage, cucumber batons, green beans, sticky rice

Method

1. Toast the raw rice in a dry frying pan over medium-low heat, stirring often, for 8-10 minutes until deeply golden and popcorn-scented. Cool, then grind to a coarse sand in a mortar or spice grinder. Set aside.
2. In a small bowl, stir together the lime juice, fish sauce, sugar and chilli flakes until the sugar dissolves. Taste: it should be aggressively sour and salty.
3. Heat a wok or wide pan over high heat. Add the pork with the 4 tbsp water and break it up hard with a spatula so it cooks in fine crumbles rather than clumps, 4-5 minutes, until just cooked through and a little juice remains in the pan. Do not brown it heavily.
4. Take the pan off the heat and let it cool for 1 minute, then pour in the dressing and toss well, scraping up the pan juices.
5. Add the shallots, spring onions, lemongrass and 2 tbsp of the toasted rice powder. Toss.
6. Fold through the mint and coriander at the very last second so they stay bright. Taste and adjust with more lime, fish sauce or chilli.
7. Pile onto a platter, dust with the remaining rice powder and serve warm or at room temperature with sticky rice and raw cabbage, cucumber and green beans for scooping.