← Nouns Cooking · Thai

Ingredients

• 450 g cold cooked jasmine rice
• 1½ tbsp Thai red curry paste
• 1 Eggs
• 3 Makrut (kaffir) lime leaves, very finely shredded
• 1 tsp Sugar
• 1 tsp Fish sauce
• 3 tbsp Desiccated coconut (optional)
• 2 tbsp rice flour or tempura flour
• 1 l neutral oil, for deep-frying
• 150 g naem (sour pork sausage), crumbled, or 150 g cooked pork mince (optional)
• 3 tbsp lime juice
• 2 tbsp Fish sauce
• 1 tsp Sugar
• 1 tsp toasted chilli flakes
• 3 Shallot, thinly sliced
• 3 cm piece Ginger, cut into fine matchsticks
• 50 g roasted peanuts
• 2 Spring onion, sliced
• 1 handful Coriander (cilantro)
• 4 dried chillies, fried crisp (optional)
• 4 lettuce leaves, to serve

Method

1. Knead the rice with the curry paste, egg, lime leaves, sugar, fish sauce, coconut and rice flour until sticky. Shape into 6 tight balls and chill for 30 min.
2. Heat the oil in a wok to 180°C (350°F) and fry the balls for 6–8 min, turning, until deep golden and very crisp. Drain and cool for a few minutes.
3. Stir the lime juice, fish sauce, sugar and chilli flakes together.
4. Break the rice balls into rough chunks in a big bowl. Add the naem, shallots, ginger, peanuts, spring onion and coriander, pour over the dressing and toss well.
5. Top with the fried chillies and serve straight away with lettuce leaves for wrapping.

Tips

• Naem is fermented raw pork sold cured; if you can’t find it, use cooked pork mince plus an extra squeeze of lime.
• Contains peanuts. Toss only at the last minute so the rice stays crunchy. Naem is eaten uncooked, so it is not advised in pregnancy or for young children, older people or anyone with low immunity; use cooked pork mince for them. Use rice that was cooled quickly and kept in the fridge for no more than a day.

Sources

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

Hungry in Thailand ImportFood