Larb (Laap) Moo

A surprisingly refreshing Southeast Asian meat salad.

Servings: 2

Author:

Main Course Salad

Thai Laotian

pork salad Asian Thai Laotian

Instructions

1 Pre-heat your stainless steel pan or pot to medium heat (no higher). Add your
1/2 cup of glutinous rice to the pan and toast and toss evenly until the colour
turns warm yellow. This usually takes around 15 minutes. Set aside.
2 Add pork (or chicken) to the pan or pot with a tiny bit of cooking oil and stir
fry until the meat is cooked fully through, and most of the juices have
evaporated. Drain excess oil and juices if desired, and finish frying with
ginger (this helps to reduce the "meat sweat" flavour). Important: make sure to
turn the heat off when meat is fully cooked!
3 Pulverize your toasted rice with a spice grinder, food processor, or a mortar
and pestle. The final size of the toasted rice should be small enough to not get
stuck in your teeth, but not so fine that it loses its crunchy texture. Add this
to the meat salad.
4 Loosely chop the herbs (scallions and cilantro), shallots and chilis. The mint
can be pulled individually from their stems and leaves kept whole. Throw all of
these items into the meat salad.
5 Finally, add fish sauce, sugar, and lime juice to the meat salad. Toss, taste,
and adjust flavour if necessary. If using chili powder instead of fresh chilis,
add at this stage.
6 Serve with Romaine lettuce leaves and your choice of crushed nuts if desired.
7 Serve also with glutinous rice cooked with coconut milk (use 1.5 cups liquid for
every 1 cup of glutinous rice and cook as you would white rice) if desired.