You'll need:
Lime (juiced)
Lime (juiced)
Fresh Cilantro
Fresh Basil
Fresh Mint
Roasted rice powder (optional if you're avoiding carbs) (instructions on how to make roasted rice powder at bottom)
Shallots
Scallions
Fish sauce
Ground chicken or beef
How much of each? I’m sorry, I am strictly a freehand cook, I don’t measure, but if I had to guesstimate:
For each chicken breast or equivalent amount of beef:
½ lime
½ tablespoons finely chopped shallots
1 Tablespoon each, finely chopped, fresh:
Cilantro
Basil
Mint
Scallions (You can leave the scallions in larger slices about the size of peas instead of chopping them finely if you prefer them that way.)
About 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons roasted rice powder
Fish sauce to taste (you can substitute salt if you don’t like fish sauce.)
You can buy all the ingredients listed here in most Asian food stores.
Once you have all the ingredients, combine the lime juice, fish sauce or salt and all the veggies and herbs in a large mixing bowl and toss well. Then add the meat and again, toss well. While tossing, sprinkle the rice powder over everything. Rice powder adds a little roasted flavor and also helps to thicken the juice a bit so everything holds together better, otherwise much of the juice tends to run off, but it's not really that big a deal, it's just as tasty without it.
One popular way to eat larb is to use a romaine lettuce leaf to hold it, like a taco shell. If you like rice, sweet rice is really good with larb.
This is one of my favorite foods, and is by far the healthiest food on my favorite foods list.
To make the roasted rice powder:
If you're going to use roaster rice powder, you may find it hard to find, but you can roast your own using a stainless steel pot or pan and a steel spatula or similar item. Buy some sweet rice (this is a special variety of glutinous rice that can be bought in almost any Asian grocery store. It's not actually sweet-tasting.) Cover the bottom of the pot in sweet rice about 1/4 inch deep. Turn the heat up fairly high but not all the way. Stir the rice CONSTANTLY or it'll burn and smoke. If it starts to smoke, remove pot from heat and keep stirring until it stops. Stir and heat until the rice is very dark brown. Some grains might be a bit black, some a bit lighter, this should not be a problem. Run then through a spice grinder. If you don't have a spice grinder, a blender may work, but be careful because blenders can create too fine a powder that tends to go everywhere because of static electricity. Maybe a adding a fw drops of water or oil before blending them would help.
Anyway, once you have your powder, which dhould be a medium brown, you're done.
You can buy all the ingredients listed here in most Asian food stores.
Once you have all the ingredients, combine the lime juice, fish sauce or salt and all the veggies and herbs in a large mixing bowl and toss well. Then add the meat and again, toss well. While tossing, sprinkle the rice powder over everything. Rice powder adds a little roasted flavor and also helps to thicken the juice a bit so everything holds together better, otherwise much of the juice tends to run off, but it's not really that big a deal, it's just as tasty without it.
One popular way to eat larb is to use a romaine lettuce leaf to hold it, like a taco shell. If you like rice, sweet rice is really good with larb.
This is one of my favorite foods, and is by far the healthiest food on my favorite foods list.
To make the roasted rice powder:
If you're going to use roaster rice powder, you may find it hard to find, but you can roast your own using a stainless steel pot or pan and a steel spatula or similar item. Buy some sweet rice (this is a special variety of glutinous rice that can be bought in almost any Asian grocery store. It's not actually sweet-tasting.) Cover the bottom of the pot in sweet rice about 1/4 inch deep. Turn the heat up fairly high but not all the way. Stir the rice CONSTANTLY or it'll burn and smoke. If it starts to smoke, remove pot from heat and keep stirring until it stops. Stir and heat until the rice is very dark brown. Some grains might be a bit black, some a bit lighter, this should not be a problem. Run then through a spice grinder. If you don't have a spice grinder, a blender may work, but be careful because blenders can create too fine a powder that tends to go everywhere because of static electricity. Maybe a adding a fw drops of water or oil before blending them would help.
Anyway, once you have your powder, which dhould be a medium brown, you're done.
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