Pork and peanut larp

Tam West

A Thai larp is basically very quickly cooked minced meat with a hot sour dressing and onions added, served in lettuce leaves, a bit like a hot salad. A bowl of rice on the side will pad out the meal. Traditionally, lime juice would be used instead of lemon but limes can be expensive here so lemon juice will taste slightly different but still do a good job as the souring agent in the dish. This dish is the perfect example of the need to be organised. Apart from the rice, which almost cooks itself, especially if you have a rice cooker, the cooking for the larp takes 2 minutes so you need everything ready to serve when the pork is cooked.

Ingredients

1	Iceberg lettuce, leaves of (Main)
½	Cucumbers, peeled and sliced thinly
150 g	Mung bean sprouts, well rinsed in cold water
2	Garlic cloves, finely chopped
1	Red onion, halved and the halves thinly sliced
5 Tbsp	Lemon juice
5 Tbsp	Fish sauce
1 pinch	Chilli flakes
1 tsp	Sugar
3 Tbsp	Vegetable oil
500 g	Pork mince (Main)
¾ cup	Unsalted peanuts, roasted, crushed or coarsley chopped (Main)
50 g	Cellophane noodles, also called lungkow, soaked in a bowl of cold water for 15 minutes, drained and cut into 5cm lengths (just do it with kitchen scissors when they are soft)
1 handful	Coriander, and/or mint, coarsely chopped or ripped up in the case of the mint
1 bottle	Sweet chilli sauce, for serving
4 servings	Long grain rice, steamed

Directions

1. Put the lettuce leaves, cucumber and mung sprouts on a serving platter.
2. Put the garlic, onion, lemon juice, fish sauce, chilli and sugar into a bowl and mix well.
3. Put the oil and mince in a bowl and mix well.
4. Heat a wok or large heavy frying pan over very high heat. Add the mince and stir-fry for about 2 minutes or until the lumps are broken up and the mince is cooked. Remove from the heat
5. Add the lemon juice mixture, peanuts, well-drained noodles and the coriander and or mint and mix well.
6. Serve the mince in a bowl with the vegetables and rice on the side. The mince mixture, cucumber and sprouts are wrapped in lettuce leaves and eaten like spring rolls with chilli sauce and with the rice in small bowls on the side.