Larb – A taste of Northeastern Thailand

Larb Isan – Spicy minced meat salad with herbs {ลาบอีสาน}

This week I present the use of dry chili to make Larb, a spicy Northeastern (Isan) Thai food. Roughly ground toasted rice (khao khua) is also a very important component of the dish. Usually with a serving of sticky rice and raw vegetables at room temperature. Hope you will like Isan taste and enjoy this dish.

Ingredients (Serve 2)

170 gr  (estimated) Ground meat as your prefer (we use pork)

2-3 Tbsp Roughly ground toasted rice

1 Green lime (use half or more)

0.5 – 1 Tbsp Fish sauce

1 tsp Thin slices Spring onion

1-3 tsp Crushed Red pepper

1 tbsp thin slices shallot

1 tsp cooking oil

Raw vegetables (cabbage, mint, cucumber,long beans, sweet basil etc)

Preparation

1. Toast rice until light brown and grind until almost fine.

2. Heat a pan to medium high heat, add ground meat in a pan, add teaspoon of cooking oil, squeeze lime juice and fish sauce, Using spatula to break the chunk of meat and after the meat cooked add toasted rice and crushed red pepper, mix together with meat you will notice that the juicy liquid will dry as the toasted rice absorbs it. Taste flavors and season more if you like. Remove pan from stove, add slices shallot and spring onion, mix together. Larb is done.

3. Transfer to serving plate and garnish Larb with selected vegetables such as Cabbage, mint, cucumber, sweet basil, long beans, spring onion and don’t miss to fry dry chili for more spicy taste..