Larb is a fabulous Thai salad. Often made with pork or chicken mince. Could also work with tofu.
I made a NZ free range pork version with added veggies to up our nutrient, plant diversity & fibre intake. It's a great way to get a range of veggies & herbs in & tastes delicious.
My version here isn't strictly a salad as I stir fry extra veggies to save me doing another dish to ensure our veggie count. I used cabbage, courgettes, snow peas, flat green beans, Okinawa spinach, but you could use other veggies.
I love the South East Asian herb flavours so grow many in my garden which means I don't have to buy them each time. If you like these also, it's a great way to save money in the long run. So I have a Kaffir lime tree, in a pot & lemon grass. I've just add galangal but it's still young so this one didn't use any as I want it to get established, so just used regular ginger.
Recipe
Serve 3-4 person (or 2 with leftovers)
Marinate:
400-500g NZ free range pork mince
3-4 Kaffir lime leaves (2 finely chopped, 2 for adding to stirfry whole)
3-4 cloves garlic
2-3 tbsp Fish sauce (1 to marinate, rest to taste in stir fry)
Extra virgin olive oil for cooking
1 cup Red rice for 2-3 people, wash & soak & set aside in pot or rice cooker
1 tbsp rice for toasting, pre toast & grind this anytime prior
Stir Fry:
While rice is cooking wash & prep veg
2-3 slices of ginger
¼ cabbage (any cabbage) sliced
1 courgette
1 decent handfull of snow peas either whole or chopped in 2
Green bean sliced into 3 depending of size
Okinawa spinach leaves sliced
Chilli, finely chopped (optional)
1 tbsp ground roasted rice (more if stir fry ends up wet)
Extra virgin olive oil for cooking
Fish sauce 1-2 Tbsp as needed to taste
Dash of sesame oil added once off the heat
To serve:
1 small red onion diced
Herbs of choice: traditional would have; coriander, Vietnamese mint & basil. Spring onion would work.
I used; mint, basil, chives, nasturtium
Chopped & set aside
Method
A tradition larb uses ground roasted rice to absorb the liquid to stop the salad from being soggy & give it a lovely nutty crunchy texture. I do this earlier & often do extra & save it in a jar for next time. Just put a tbsp (more if doing extra for next time) of rice (I used brown, but use whatever you have), into a dry wok or pan and toast. Just like toasting seeds, toasting to ensure it browns but doesn't burn. Once it's lovely & golden, crush it in a morter & pestle or spice grinder. Store in an air tight jar in your spice cupboard.
Wash & soak your rice. I've switched from brown rice to red or wild for the anthocyanins (polyphenols that made foods purple/red) these are great for our health.
I marinated the pork mince with; crushed garlic, 2-3 very finely chopped kaffir lime leaves & lemongrass, & fish sauce.
Turn your rice on as you start to prep the veggies. Start to cook the stir fry; mince & veggies once the rice is almost ready.
While the rice is cooking prep the veg, cut courgette into battens, could add carrot also, (i didn't have any), slice cabbage, Okinawa spinach, dandelion greens, snow peas, flat green beans. The trick with stir frying is all the veg should be a similar size to all cook at a similar speed.
Finely chopped chilli (optional). A larb is traditionally very hot, but add as much or little as you like.
Dice red onion & pop in a bowl for serving. Wash & chopped fresh herbs; coriander is great, but again I didn't have any, so used; basil, mint, chives, nasturtium & set aside.
When you are ready to cook
Heat your wok (or pan) to a high heat, add a dash of oil, (I use extra virgin olive oil), add sliced ginger, then once hot marinated mince, stir as needed to brown, once it's almost cooked add large veggies that take longer; courgette, some fish sauce & chilli, then beans, lastly once almost ready, snow peas & cabbage as they don't need long.
Taste it, adjust if you need more fish sauce or salt. It would have palm sugar but I don't add much sugar to my cooking. We did add some chilli jam I make once served, which has sugar.
Turn off the heat add a dash of sesame oil.
Put into the bowl with red onions, add a decent squeeze of lime, & I also add the zest for quercetin & essential oils, polyphenols. Top with all the herbs, Vietnamese mint & basil, coriander would be brilliant. I just use what I have in the garden. Stir gently to combine.
Serve on the rice.
The leftovers are lovely rolled into fresh rice rolls the next day.
Enjoy 💚
