Recipes

Spicy Minced Pork Salad

Larb Moo

Ground pork with toasted rice powder, chili, and a generous handful of fresh herbs

Prep

15 min

Cook

5 min

Serves

4

Heat

hot

Larb builds its whole character around toasted, coarsely ground rice, stirred into cooked pork along with ground dried chili and lime juice until the mixture thickens into something closer to a coating than a sauce. Onion goes in for a brief cook to soften slightly, but the real flood of freshness comes at the very end, when green onion, cilantro, and a generous quantity of mint get folded in and the pan comes off the heat immediately. That timing is what keeps the herbs vivid rather than wilted limp, and a second scattering of fresh mint, cilantro, and raw onion on top at serving time doubles down on that freshness against the warm, savory pork.

Ingredients

• 1 1/3 lb Ground pork loin
• 3 bunches Spearmint (leaves picked, some reserved for garnish)
• 1 1/2 Red onion, small (sliced, some reserved for garnish)
• 4 teaspoons Ground dried Thai chili
• 4 tablespoons Toasted ground white rice (chunky, not fine, plus more for garnish)
• 3 Green onions (cut into 1/2-inch pieces)
• 4 tablespoons Fresh lime juice
• 7 Coriander/cilantro leaves (stalks and leaves roughly chopped, some reserved for garnish)
• 5 1/3 teaspoons Fish sauce
• 5 1/3 teaspoons Light soy sauce
• 5 1/3 teaspoons White cane sugar
• 2 2/3 teaspoons Salt

Directions

1. If you don't already have toasted ground rice, toast raw rice in a dry wok over medium heat for 5 to 10 minutes, stirring constantly, until mostly golden brown. Cool, then grind coarsely with a mortar and pestle — it should have real texture, not be fine like flour.
2. Cut the green onion into 1/2-inch pieces. Pick the mint leaves, reserving some for garnish. Roughly chop the cilantro stalks and leaves, reserving some for garnish. Slice the red onion, reserving some for garnish. Squeeze the lime juice. Measure out the remaining seasonings.
3. Heat oil in a wok over medium heat. Stir-fry the pork until mostly cooked.
4. Add a splash of water to keep the pork moist. Add the salt, sugar, soy sauce, and fish sauce, and continue cooking for about a minute, until the pork is fully cooked.
5. Add the ground rice, ground chili, and lime juice. Stir in well and cook a few seconds until the sauce starts to thicken. Add half the sliced onion, saving the rest for garnish, and cook until slightly softened.
6. Add the green onion, cilantro, and mint leaves. Stir well and remove from heat right away — you just want the leaves to wilt slightly, not cook through.
7. Serve on a shared plate, garnished with a generous handful of fresh mint, cilantro, reserved onion slices, and a sprinkle of extra toasted rice.
8. Serve with fresh green beans, cucumber, cabbage, or other crunchy vegetables, alongside sticky rice or steamed rice.

Notes

Pull the pan off the heat the moment the herbs go in — the goal is just to wilt them slightly with residual heat, not to cook them through, or they lose their fresh bite.

Substitutions

Ground beef or chicken can replace the pork with no other changes to the method.