Here’s one we’ve been fiddling with for months now after enjoying it for years at our favorite Thai places around the country – Larb Salad.
We actually ended up reaching out to chef buddy Libby in Austin to see if she had a favorite version of larb; she tends to work very hard to reproduce classic dishes of great cuisines around the world, and for whatever reason, our palates are fairly closely aligned. Like her, we tend to lean toward making things a bit more spicy (meaning more peppers here), and love the interplay of the lemongrass, cilantro, and mint in this one.
This has become one of our favorites over the spring and early summer season; it’s great spooned into lettuce leaves and eaten “taco style” as we say down here in the South, or served over a bed of finely shredded Napa cabbage.
Take the time to juice 5 or 6 limes to get the required amount of lime juice, it’s absolutely worth it, and even though it sounds like a lot of fish sauce, use at least 1/4 cup.
It’s amazingly good leftover cold, and I can see some riverside lunches of cold larb coming up on our next run back home to Montana coming up shortly…
2/3 cup fresh squeezed lime juice
1/4 to 1/3 cup fish sauce
1-2 tbsp chili paste or chili garlic paste
Optional: 1 tbsp sugar2 lb ground pork, chicken, or turkey (or combination)
3/4 cup chicken broth
1 cup (generous) sliced green onions, white and trimmed green parts
1 cup shallots, thinly sliced
2-4 tbsp minced lemongrass
1-2 tbsp thinly sliced serranos or Thai chiles
3/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves and tender stems
1/2 cup chopped fresh mint leavesLettuce leaves or shredded napa cabbage for serving
Combine the four sauce ingredients in a small bowl, whisk to combine, and set aside.
Into a large skillet over medium heat goes the meat; break it up as it begins to brown, ladling off the fat and water that comes off. When the meat is about halfway cooked, add the chicken stock, and continue to cook until the meat is cooked through, another 5-6 minutes.
Now add the green onions, shallots, lemongrass, and chiles, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender and the liquid has largely evaporated.
Remove from the heat, add the sauce, cilantro, and mint, stirring to combine well.
Serve over shredded napa cabbage or in lettuce leaves “taco style” and go to it.
Enjoy.
