Traditional larb: the Lao minced meat salad with mint, lime, fish sauce and toasted rice

Larb, or laap, means luck in Lao, and it is the dish of every celebration in Laos: new year, weddings, the arrival of a guest. It is eaten with sticky rice, the country's daily bread, pressed into little balls by hand and used to pick up the meat, and with a plate of raw vegetables and herbs on the side, cabbage, long beans, cucumber, basil, to alternate between bites.

The northeastern Thai version, Isan larb, is similar and better known; the Lao one usually has more herbs, a touch of galangal and, in traditional versions, offal and crispy skin mixed into the meat. What is never missing is khao khua: raw sticky rice toasted in a dry pan until golden and coarsely ground, which gives the nutty aroma and grainy texture that identify the dish.

It is a warm salad, assembled in minutes: the meat cooks in a little water, is seasoned while hot, and the herbs go in at the end so they do not wilt. Pork is the most common, but chicken, duck, beef, fish and even mushrooms make larb.

Recipe card

• Origin: Laos
• Category: Meat salad, main course
• Difficulty: Easy
• Preparation time: 25 minutes
• Cooking time: 15 minutes
• Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 500 g pork (or chicken), hand-chopped or coarsely ground
• 3 tablespoons raw sticky rice (or regular rice)
• 4 tablespoons lime juice
• 3 tablespoons fish sauce
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 to 2 teaspoons toasted dried chili flakes
• 1 teaspoon grated galangal or ginger (optional)
• 4 shallots, thinly sliced (or 1/2 red onion)
• 4 scallions, sliced
• 1 cup mint leaves
• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
• 1/4 cup water
• Steamed sticky rice to serve
• Raw cabbage, cucumber, long beans and basil to accompany

Method

1. Toast the raw rice in a dry pan on medium, stirring constantly, for 8 to 10 minutes, until golden and fragrant. Let cool and grind coarsely in a mortar or coffee grinder.
2. In a pot, heat the water, add the meat and cook on medium, stirring and breaking up the lumps, for 5 to 7 minutes, just until it loses its raw color and dries. Do not brown.
3. Transfer the warm meat to a bowl and season immediately with the lime, fish sauce, sugar, chili and galangal. Mix well.
4. Add the shallots, scallions and half the toasted rice and mix.
5. Taste: it should be sour, salty and spicy in balance; adjust with lime or fish sauce.
6. When serving, add the mint and cilantro, mix lightly and sprinkle the rest of the toasted rice.
7. Serve warm with the sticky rice and the plate of raw vegetables and herbs.

Tips and variations

• The toasted rice is the ingredient you do not skip: make a larger batch and keep it in a sealed jar for weeks.
• Hand-chopped meat has better texture than finely ground.
• Fish larb: steamed and flaked white fillet.
• Mushroom larb: chopped mushrooms sautéed without oil, for the vegetarian version, with soy sauce instead of fish sauce.
• A little cooked, chopped chicken liver is the traditional Lao touch.
• Eat immediately: the herbs wilt and the lime keeps cooking the meat.
• Sticky rice needs an overnight soak and steaming; jasmine rice is the quick alternative.

Larb is sour, spicy, fragrant with mint and crunchy with toasted rice, all in one bowl and ready in 20 minutes. With a ball of sticky rice in hand, it is the whole of Laos.