Larb Moo

Larb Moo, a summer dish with fresh herbs (Laos + N.Thailand meat salad)

Ingredients for cooking

1/4 cup raw rice (or 3 TBSP roasted rice powder from asian grocery)
1 lb coarsely ground or finely chopped pork, chicken, beef, lamb, any meat.
    (Your grocery may have the new wrapping which keeps ground meat longer,
      so you can buy further in advance)

4 Tsp fish sauce
5 tsp lime juice (or more)
1/3 cup chopped RED onion
2 TBSP chopped cilantro (or replace with mint)
10 mint leaves, chopped (or more)
1/2 tsp hot chili powder, or add Sriracha to taste at the table
Ingredients for serving
Rice (sticky rice is most authentic, long grain next, short grain least authentic, but it’s what we use)
Lettuce, cucumber, fresh peppers or other veg
More mint

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Make roasted rice powder. Try not to skip this step. It makes a big difference in taste, texture, and getting the liquid to stick to the meat. Heat skillet to high. Add rice, no oil. Stir until rice is puffs, is toasted, brownish but not burned. Remove from pan and set aside to cool. I often put it on a paper plate or napkin, easy to fold/bend into a grinder. Grind to a coarse powder. (I use a small coffee grinder.)
  2. Heat skillet on medium-high. When hot, add a couple TBSP water (so meat won’t burn), then meat. (Don’t need oil.) Cook and turn or stir occasionally, breaking larger lumps until it’s cooked through, a few minutes. Transfer meat to mixing bowl.
  3. When meat is warm (no longer hot), add remaining ingredients, using ~3 TBSP of the rice powder (the rest is extra). Mix gently, thoroughly.
  4. Transfer meat to serving plate, surrounded by mint, lettuce, veg.
  5. To eat, scoop some meat, rice, veg into a lettuce leaf, and wrap.