← Nouns Cooking · Thai

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp raw glutinous (sticky) rice, for toasted rice powder
• 500 g chicken mince (thigh is juiciest)
• 3 tbsp Water
• 3 tbsp Fish sauce
• 3 tbsp lime juice
• 1 tsp palm sugar or brown sugar
• 1½ tsp dried chilli flakes (to taste)
• 3 Asian shallots (or 1 banana shallot), thinly sliced
• 2 Spring onion, thinly sliced
• 1 handful Mint, leaves picked
• 1 handful Coriander (cilantro), roughly chopped
• 1 little gem or butter lettuce, leaves separated
• 100 g snake beans or green beans, raw (optional)
• ½ Cucumber, sliced (optional)

Method

1. Make the toasted rice: dry-fry the raw sticky rice in a small pan over medium heat, shaking often, for 5–7 min until deep golden and nutty. Cool, then grind to a coarse powder in a mortar or spice grinder.
2. Put the chicken mince and water in a wok or frying pan over medium heat. Cook for 5–6 min, breaking it into small crumbs, until no pink remains and it is cooked through. No oil needed: the water keeps it soft.
3. Take the pan off the heat and let it cool for a minute so the herbs don’t wilt. Stir in the fish sauce, lime juice, sugar and chilli flakes.
4. Add the shallots, spring onions, mint, coriander and 1 tbsp of the toasted rice and toss well. Taste: it should be sour, salty and spicy first, with only a hint of sweet. Add more lime or fish sauce if needed.
5. Pile onto a plate, sprinkle with the rest of the rice powder and serve warm with lettuce leaves, raw beans, cucumber and sticky rice.

Tips

• Toasted rice powder (khao khua) keeps for weeks in a jar, so make a big batch; it is also what goes into nam jim jaew.
• Pork mince (larb moo) is just as traditional; cook it until no pink remains.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

RecipeTin Eats Marion's Kitchen Rachel Cooks Thai