Monday 17 July 2017

Larb

Summer is here so who wants to be spending ages in the kitchen when they can make the most of the lighter evenings and beautiful weather? I certainly don't!
I want it to be quick, I want it to be kind of healthy and I want it to be kind to my purse too (because let's face it, ingredients are becoming more expensive), especially since I'm going through a little thing called unemployment.
If you have been following me on facebookland and Instagram you may have seen me whip up some budget dinners with East Asian Flavours lately - that's right, no mince and tatties or bubble 'n' squeak in sight! East asian food is great during summer months because it's usually light but there's still loads of flavour packed into a simple dish.



Some good staples to have in your veg box!


Pan fried mackerel with home made chilli, sweet and sour sauce.



Moo Pad Krapow

The recipe I am sharing today is for the Larb dish that I made this evening - larb is a thai dish normally eaten cold or warm and served with lettuce leaves (great with cos lettuce or butter lettuce). I was taught how to make this by my amazing ex-colleague, Paritar, during our restaurant days and it's always a go to dish if we want something lighter for dinner. This recipe has been altered and I would recommend anyone using this recipe to alter it to your tastes. Add more lime juice or toasted rice or coriander if you like - it's definitely a recipe you can play about with in terms of how you like your flavours. I tinkered with the recipe tonight because I didn't have any chilli flakes so used fresh chillies and cooked off the shallots as I'm not keen on raw onions. We also had it warm with rice tonight as we wanted something a little more substantial.

Larb Recipe


Ingredients(approx):

250g mince (can be replaced with chicken, seafood or tofu)
1/2 red onion sliced or 2 shallots sliced
juice of 1 and a half limes
1.5 tbsp fish sauce
1/2 tsp caster sugar
1.5 tbsp chilli flakes (or more, depending on how much heat you can take!)
1.5 tbsp rice
1/3 cup of chopped coriander

Method:
  • Warm up a frying pan and toast the rice in the pan until it's golden - you will also smell a beautiful aroma coming off of it. Prevent scorching the rice by giving the pan a good shake regularly. 
  • Place the toasted rice into a grinder or mortar and pestle then grind it all up. 
  • Using the same pan you toasted the rice, fry off the mince and then place it into a large bowl to cool slightly.
  • Mix the lime juice with the fish sauce and sugar then add to the mince.
  • Add chilli flakes, toasted rice, onions/shallots and coriander then give everything a good stir.
  • It's ready to serve!
I used fresh chillies and cooked this with the mince and onions this evening.

TIP: If you don't plan on eating this right away, I recommend the toasted rice be left out until you are ready to eat it.