Thai pork larb lettuce wraps
Zingy Thai larb with lime, fish sauce, fresh mint and toasted rice crunch, spooned into cool lettuce cups for a light, bright dinner.
- 30 min total
- 25 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 4
- About $3.45 a serving
- 550 calories
- Good the next day
- Gluten-free
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 2 tbsp jasmine rice, 2 tablespoons
- 2 shallots, thinly sliced
- 3 green onions, thinly sliced
- ⅓ cup fresh mint, leaves
- ½ cup cilantro, leaves
- 3 limes, juiced
- 3 tbsp fish sauce
- 1½ lb ground pork
- 1 head iceberg lettuce, leaves separated into cups
- 1 English cucumber, sliced
From your pantry
- 1 tsp sugar
- ½ tsp red pepper flakes
Each serving has about 550 calories, 33 g protein, 24 g carbs and 36 g fat, and costs about $3.45 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No jasmine rice? Long-grain white rice or basmati rice works.
- No green onions? Chives work.
- No cilantro? Fresh parsley works.
- No limes? Lemons work.
- No English cucumbers? Cucumbers or mini cucumbers work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Toast the rice in a large dry over medium, shaking the pan often, 4 to 5 minutes until and nutty-smelling. Tip it onto a plate to cool.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Medium heatTimer: 4 min 30 sec
Put the cooled rice in a zip-top bag and crush it with the bottom of a mug until it looks like coarse sand.
Dolly’s tip: This toasted rice is the secret crunch in real larb. A few whole grains left in are fine.the shallots and green onions, pick the mint and cilantro leaves, and juice the limes.
Thinly slice. Thinly slicing means cutting slices about an eighth of an inch thick, roughly two coins stacked. Thin slices cook in seconds and soften fast, which quick dishes need.
How you’ll know: A slice bends a little when you hold it by one edge, and slow, steady cuts beat fast ones.
the lime juice, fish sauce, sugar and pepper flakes together in a small bowl.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Dolly’s tip: Fish sauce smells strong in the bottle but tastes savory, not fishy, once it hits the pork.Put the pork and 2 tablespoons of water in the same over medium-high. Break it into small and cook 6 to 8 minutes, until no pink is left.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Crumble. Crumbling means breaking food into small, rough bits with your fingers or a spoon, like feta or ground meat in the pan. Small bits spread through the dish, so there’s some in every bite.
How you’ll know: The pieces are small and uneven, about pea-size, with no big clumps left.
Medium-high heatTimer: 7 min
Food safety: Ground beef, pork and lamb are done at 160°F. When it’s cooked through there’s no pink left anywhere in the pan.
Turn off the heat and in the lime mixture, shallots and most of the toasted rice.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Let it cool for 5 minutes, then in the mint, cilantro and green onions so they stay bright green.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Timer: 5 min
Spoon the larb into lettuce leaves, sprinkle with the rest of the rice and eat with the cucumber slices.
Dolly’s tip: Larb tastes great cold, so it packs well for lunch. Keep the lettuce leaves whole in a separate bag so they stay crisp.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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