Laab with Ground Pork

This dish was amazing! The tanginess of the lime juice, the fresh crunch of the shallots/herbs, and the slight sweetness from the fish sauce all combined perfectly into this simple recipe. Enjoy. :)

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons of toasted rice

1-2 shallots, thinly sliced (to taste)

1-2 limes, to taste

½ pound of ground pork (we used closer to 1 lb. of ground pork)

¼ tsp of ground dried chili pepper (we used red pepper flakes)

1 tbsp fish sauce

5 sprigs of cilantro, chopped

3 sprigs of mint (optional – we omitted this)

1 green onion, chopped/minced (optional – we added this)

Salt and pepper, to taste (we didn’t add pepper, but Trang thinks pepper would be a nice add)

Lettuce leaves, to eat with the laab

Instructions (for close to a pound of ground pork):

1. Squeeze lime juice onto the ground pork. Mix well and let it marinade for a few minutes until you are ready to cook it. For ½ pound of meat, you can probably do with the juice you get from moderate squeezing of one lime, but for a pound of meat, you probably want to squeeze the life out of it.

2. Make toasted rice! Here’s how: Heat up a pan/wok and add 2 tbsp of uncooked rice. Lower the heat and keep stirring to prevent burning. Some of the rice will pop, so don’t be surprised/alarmed. The rice is done when the grains turn a golden brown color. Remove the toasted rice from the pan, and pour it into a mortar. Twist the pestle against the rice to crush the grains into smaller pieces. Alternatively, you can do what Trang did and Magic Bullet it. :-)

3. Wash some lettuce leaves, and use either a salad spinner or some paper towels to dry the leaves. Set aside til you’re ready to serve the laab. (You can spoon the laab into the lettuce to munch together. Delish! But I’m getting ahead of myself…)

4. Heat up a pan on high heat until it is very hot. (The primary recipe that I am adapting this recipe from suggests using cast iron pans because they can heat up super hot, retain heat well, and heat evenly.) Add four tablespoons (or splashes, really) of water, and immediately add the marinated pork. Stir the pork around, breaking up the meat as it cooks. Keep stirring until the pork is well done.

5. Transfer the ground pork to a large mixing bowl. Add the fish sauce, green onion, shallot, cilantro, the rest of the lime juice, red pepper flakes and almost all of the toasted rice into the bowl. (Save the rest of the toasted rice for garnish.) Mix well and taste. This is where you can adjust ingredient quantities if it’s not to your liking. You should be able to taste the tartness from the lime juice and the fish sauce. You can add a bit of salt and pepper, to taste.

6. Put the mixed ingredients in a serving bowl, garnish with the optional ingredients and the rest of the toasted rice. Serve with the lettuce.