This is a spicy, crunchy minced-meat filling, wrapped in a fresh, crisp salad leaf. The fragrant contrast of texture and flavour in this Thai salad makes it the kind of food I will never tire of.
1 tbsp jasmine rice
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 lemon-grass stalk, white only, finely chopped
1 green chilli, chopped
2 tbsp light-flavoured oil
500g chicken mince
3 spring onions, finely sliced
2 tsp caster sugar
1½ tbsp fish sauce
4 tbsp lime juice, plus wedges to serve
1 tsp dried chilli flakes, plus extra to serve
2 cos lettuce, broken into leaves
Bunch coriander, leaves picked
Toast the rice in a small, dry frying pan over a medium to low heat for about 10 minutes, stirring regularly until the rice is lightly toasted. Pound with a pestle and mortar until finely crushed. Remove and set aside. Bash the garlic, lemon grass and green chilli to a paste.
For the larb, heat a wok over a high heat, add the oil and, when hot, add the mince and spring onion and cook until the mince is browned. Remove from the heat, add the garlic-chilli paste, sugar, fish sauce, lime juice and chilli flakes and stir to combine.
To serve, pile the larb on to a bowl and sprinkle with ground rice. Serve on a tray with crisp lettuce, lime wedges, coriander and some extra ground rice and crushed chillies. Let your guests dig in and make themselves a larb parcel on their plate.
Source: The Independent
