Easy-Kine Cooking: Larb salad offers clean-tasting meat

At Thai restaurants, one of my favorite dishes is larb salad, which features ground meat. It incorporates all that is wonderful about Thai food: the magical combination of sweet, sour, spicy and savory.

The only cooked ingredient is protein; onions, herbs and “salad dressing” are added to it.

You can use ground beef, chicken or turkey, but I prefer the richness of pork. My nephew Cameron Chan from Palolo learned how to make larb salad at a Thai restaurant in Eugene, Ore., and showed me how they do it.

I’ve always wondered why larb is such a light dish. One reason: The meat is not oily. After the meat is browned, it is boiled in water. The fat stays in the water and the meat is clean tasting.

Toasted rice powder is Thai sweet (mochi) rice that is roasted and ground with a mortar and pestle. I found some at the Asian Food Trading Co. on Beretania Street. But if you can’t get your hands on it, omit it and the dish still tastes great. If you’re ambitious, roast and grind your own. The rice adds a slight crunch and distinctive roasted flavor.

Choose herbs and onions you like to complete the salad. If you can’t tolerate heat, omit the chili pepper. Like fire? Add three Thai chilies. Served with lettuce or cabbage, larb is a perfect summer food.

PORK LARB SALAD

By Lynette Lo Tom

• 1 pound ground pork (substitute with beef, turkey or chicken)
• 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
• 3 tablespoons fish sauce
• 1-1/2 teaspoons sugar
• 1-1/2 teaspoons toasted rice powder (optional)
• 1-1/2 cups vegetables, such as sliced red onions, chopped cilantro leaves, green onions, Thai basil leaves, mint leaves
• 1 Thai or Hawaiian chili pepper, minced (optional)
• 1/4 head cabbage or 1/2 head lettuce leaves

>> Garnishes: onions, cilantro, Thai basil, mint, grated carrots (optional)

In a saucepan on medium, cook ground pork until light brown, about 5 minutes. Add 1 cup water and continue cooking 5 minutes.

With slotted spoon, scoop out meat and place in large mixing bowl. Add lime juice, fish sauce, sugar and toasted rice powder if using. (If you omit the rice powder, the mixture will be slightly more liquidy.) Add vegetables. Add minced chili pepper if using. Taste and adjust flavor by adding more lime, fish sauce or sugar.

Mound mixture on a plate and serve with either wedges of raw cabbage or leaves of soft lettuce such as Manoa, green- or red-leaf lettuce. Garnish and serve at room temperature or cold. Serves 4 to 6.

Approximate nutritional information, per serving (based on 4 servings and not including optional ingredients): 280 calories, 17 g fat, 6 g saturated fat, 75 mg cholesterol, 1,150 mg sodium, 10 g carbohydrate, 2 g fiber, 6 g sugar, 23 g protein.

”Easy Kine” features simple dishes that start with commercially prepared ingredients. Lynette Lo Tom is excited to hear your tried-and-true suggestions. Contact her at 275-3004, email lynette@brightlightcookery.com or via instagram at brightlightcookery. Nutritional analysis by Joannie Dobbs, Ph.D., C.N.S.