Larb. Doesn’t sound like the most appetizing thing you could eat, does it?
Well, names can be deceiving. Because this Pork Larb is the best thing I’ve cooked all month.
What Is Larb?
I’m relatively new to the world of Larb, and if you’re also a newcomer, allow me to explain what it is. Larb is basically a salad—made out of meat. (So, like, the best KIND of salad, right?).
It’s a meat salad from Laos that has made its way into Thailand and other areas of Southeast Asia, as well as here in the West. Like other dishes in Southeast Asian cooking, the dish combines savory flavors with fresh ones.
It features fresh herbs like cilantro, scallions, and mint, and fresh lime juice. The addition of toasted ground rice also adds texture and nuttiness to the final dish.
Customize To Your Own Tastes
Like any salad, you can make larb your own. Not enough cilantro or mint in this recipe for you? Add more! Not a huge fan of cilantro? Substitute in Thai basil or maybe even more mint.
Want more of a kick? Add more chilies. Don’t eat pork or chicken? Try any other ground meat! There are also larb dishes that are made with fish or even mushrooms.
This dish is incredibly quick and easy to make. The most time-consuming step is simply dry toasting the rice grains, which takes about 10 minutes. If you make that ahead, you can be in larb-y heaven in 10 minutes or less.
Serving Larb
There are also several different ways to serve up a plate of pork larb. You can serve it with some lettuce leaves for crunchy lettuce wraps, or you can serve it with Thai sticky rice, or even just some steamed jasmine rice if you don’t want to get too fancy.
I served mine with some homemade coconut rice and toasted coconut, which may not be completely traditional, but was pretty darn delicious.
Without further ado, let’s larb.
Pork Larb: Recipe Instructions
In a dry wok or pan over low heat, toast the rice grains, stirring continuously until they turn golden and fragrant––about 10 minutes.
Grind to a coarse powder in a mortar & pestle. Set aside.
Place your wok back over high heat until smoking. Add the oil and the ground pork. Stir-fry until the pork is browned…
And add in the toasted rice powder, sugar, fish sauce, and lime juice.
Stir-fry for another minute, and then add in the chili, shallots, scallions, cilantro, and mint. Stir-fry for one more minute, and then taste for seasoning, adding more chili, sugar, fish sauce, and/or lime juice to your taste if needed.
Serve your pork larb with coconut rice or plain white rice! Also check out our Chicken Larb recipe, if you’d like a chicken version or would like to see how to make chicken or pork larb lettuce wraps!
As I mentioned above, I served my delicious plate of Pork Larb with a bowl of homemade coconut rice––I’ll be posting the recipe for it in a couple days, so stay tuned!
Pork Larb, The National Dish of Laos
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon uncooked sticky rice (you can also substitute regular white rice if you don’t have sticky rice)
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 pound ground pork (450g)
- ¼ teaspoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 1 lime (juiced)
- 1 red chili (sliced)
- 3 shallots (peeled and thinly sliced)
- 3 scallions (chopped)
- ¼ cup cilantro
- ½ cup mint
Instructions
- In a dry wok or pan over low heat, toast the rice grains, stirring continuously until they turn golden and fragrant––about 10 minutes. Grind to a coarse powder in a mortar & pestle. Set aside.
- Place your wok back over high heat until smoking. Add the oil and the ground pork. Stir-fry until the pork is browned, and add in the toasted rice powder, sugar, fish sauce, and lime juice.
- Stir-fry for another minute, and then add in the chili, shallots, scallions, cilantro, and mint. Stir-fry for one more minute, and then taste for seasoning, adding more chili, sugar, fish sauce, and/or lime juice to your taste if needed.
- Serve with sticky rice, steamed jasmine rice, and/or lettuce leaves.
nutrition facts
Fantastic recipe! I love it. I have made it a few times and always get rave reviews.
Thanks so much Gail!
I love Larb! This recipe looks really good & authentic! I will make it soon & get back with you! Just a side note, I eat my Larb with sticky rice. I like my Larb spicy & the sticky rice helps cool the tongue!
Sounds delish, Cheryl! Hope you like our version!
Our favorite Thai restaurant serves a version of this, so I found this recipe to make it ourselves. I’ve now made this several times and enjoy it. The restaurant serves it over shredded cabbage, so that’s how we make it too. I usually reduce the amount of shallots and increase the mint and lime juice. A couple of questions: do you drain any of the pork fat, and do you use fresh mint or dried mint?
Hi Louis, we generally buy lean ground pork, so we do not drain off any fat. We use fresh mint!
It’s been six months since my comment above, and I can say that we still make this very regularly, probably once every few weeks. It’s definitely become a family favorite, and we usually double the recipe. To save time, we’ll toast a large quantity of sticky rice well in advance and store it a small container in the pantry. Then we just grind a tablespoon or so into a powder right before cooking. Another variation is that we often now use ground turkey instead of ground pork.
That’s amazing to hear, Louis! So awesome that this recipe has become such a staple at your house. :)
I just made this tonight! It came out perfectly with great fresh and savory flavor. I didn’t feel like breaking out the rice cooker, so we just ate it with lettuce and perilla (aka shiso/kkaenip). I highly recommend the perilla for anyone looking for an alternative way to eat this dish; it had enough bite to stand up to the meat for a textural contrast, and the grassy herbal flavor it brought complemented the dish perfectly.
Thank you for sharing your feedback and tips, Anja!
I’ve made laarb many times and I’ve only ever once used it the traditional way. I highly recommend using it for tacos with an avocado/coconut milk “crema”. It makes a great almost fusion dish (tortillas being the vehicle). I used your recipe as the base and it came out fantastic. I did do a mix of mint, cilantro, birds eye, and Thai basil. with just a touch of toasted cumin and coriander seeds in the pico.
Thanks for sharing, Kris!