After a slow, rainy start to the Brooklyn backyard growing season, the mint on my deck is finally powering its way back, taking over the herb box with vim and vigor. I clipped it back to make room for the slower-moving lemon thyme, and ended up with enough to season a batch of Thai larb.
Ground pork is my meat of choice for larb. But any ground meat works — as does vegan meat, chopped-up mushrooms, or even chopped fish fillets. It’s really the exuberant combination of herbs, chile, lime juice and fish sauce that make larb so appealing, so use what you have.
Traditional recipes call for toasted rice powder for depth and crunch. I left it out this weekend because I was too hungry to add a step, and honestly, I didn’t miss it. But if you want, toast some white rice in a dry skillet until it’s deeply golden brown all over, then pulverize it in a spice grinder or with a mortar and pestle and set it aside.
You can now use that same skillet to make the larb. Heat a little oil, and add a pound of ground meat or nonmeat to feed three or four. Let it cook, seasoning it to taste with red-pepper flakes, a grated garlic clove or two, if you like (not necessary but nice), and a couple of teaspoons of fish sauce.
Let the meat cool down for a few minutes while you slice up a shallot or half a small onion, and 3 or 4 scallions (whites and greens). It’s nice to use both the shallot and scallion, but either one is enough, if that’s what you’ve got. Throw the alliums in the pan, along with a cup of chopped herbs. I used mint and chives, along with some sad-looking cilantro stems that needed a home. But use whatever herbs you have. A sliced fresh chile (red or green) can be a perky addition, though the real heat here comes from the red-pepper flakes.
Finally, mix in the rice powder, if you like, and season everything with the juice of a lime or two (or some rice wine vinegar), a little more fish sauce, and a pinch of sugar and salt, adding everything to taste until the salad is tangy and a little funky from the fish sauce. Serve it with cooked rice and lettuce leaves, or just eat it straight from the bowl with a spoon, with more herbs on top if you’ve got enough to spare.
This is part of a series in which Melissa Clark teaches you how to cook with pantry staples. See more.
