Saturday 31 March 2007

Larb : Hot and Spicy Slad - Thai style : An authentic recipe


Larb Moo or Hot and Spicy Minced Pork Salad – Thai style

" ลาบ " Larb is a Thai north-eastern hot and spicy minced meat dish. Authentic recipe DIDN'T add sugar in it 'coz it’s not our north-eastern taste. We eat it with sticky rice and fresh veggies, eg. Long Bean, Chinese lettuce, Cabbage, Basil leaves and other north-eastern veggie (I dunno their names and I don’t eat them. OMG !!!.....I can’t stand their strong smell :S).
Here, I’ll give you an AUTHENTIC one! :)

Ingredients
1 cup chicken stock or water
½ cup pound coarsely ground pork (beef, chicken, duck, charcoal-grilled Catfish or Mushroom or Bean curd – if you are a veggie)
½ cup coarsely chopped shallot
3 tablespoons finely chopped green onion
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh cilantro
A handful of fresh mint leaves
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
2 tablespoons Fish sauce
2 tablespoons roasted sticky rice powder
1 tablespoon coarsely ground dried red chilli
½ finely ground Galangal (option)
A few lettuce leaves (or Chinese cabbage), Basil leaves
2 wedges green cabbage
6 green beans, trimmed and halved crosswise

Method
In a small saucepan over high heat, bring the stock to a boil. Add the meat and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, tossing often with a large spoon to break up the meat and cook it to fairly evenly. When the meat is cooked, remove the pan from the heat.
Using a slotted spoon, transfer the meat to a medium bowl, leaving most of the liquid behind. Stir in the shallot, green onion, cilantro, galangal and most of the mint, reserving a few leaves for a garnish. Add the lime juice, fish sauce, sticky rice powder and chilli, stir to combine everything well. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed for a pleasing balance of sour, salty, and hot.

Serve

Normally, serve together with fresh veggies and steamed Sticky rice in separated dishes and eat together. Here in my shot, I just stylish it for photograph, however, I love to serve as shown here for sometimes. If you don't have Sticky rice, you can eat only with veggies or steamed rice. I almost eat only with veggies 'coz I don’t like sticky rice….hehehee…that’s what many friends said..”You are a real city girl!!” LOL LOL


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6 comments:

maiylah said...

what a feast for the eyes!
you don't like sticky rice? hehehe ... i do! so that means i'm not really a "city girl" at heart, huh? LOL :D

Poulet S.A. said...

hehehee....I don't like sticky rice, Maiylah,..really !! And, yes, I guess you might not be a city girl at heart !! LOL LOL

When I was a girl, I was so surprised when I saw people from north-eastern ate savory dishes with sticky rice. In Bangkok and every countries in central, eastern and southern part of Thailand eat rice, Maiylah. Sticky rice is for desserts only.

You know, "J" told me, he was SO surprised as well, though he is not a city boy !!! He is a boy from 'desserts' country near the sea !! ;)))

magiceye said...

looks delicious!

Poulet S.A. said...

Thanks !
It's a spicy and delicious dish, Magiceye. :)

maiylah said...

so maybe that's why i love going to rural areas! lol ...
normally we eat sticky rice in sweet stuffs, too, like in desserts ... but i think some do eat them here, like, in a meal. but i guess it's not usually eaten together with savory dishes since it's more expensive compared to "regular" rice.

Poulet S.A. said...

Quite same here, Maiylah, but some kind of regular rice still more expensive than sticky rice.

Here, in north-eastern which is a poor part of the country and in the north, people there eat sticky rice in their daily life, Maiylah. Both with savory dishes and made some desserts. It is a kind of rice that can grown well in very hot and dry weather. The most important thing is it's heavy !! So it's good for poor people 'coz it can stay long in their stomach !!