Made by: Peter

I came across this Laotian recipe in which the author said, “I make this so often it’s embarrassing.” I have officially joined that team. This is my go-to when I get home late, don’t want to take three hours to prepare a meal, and need something warm and delicious. It’s simple to make, ingredients and prep not at all onerous, and it’s flexible enough to incorporate other ingredients from your fridge.

Recipe

Pork Larb

Servings: 3

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cook time: 20 minutes

Total time: 40 minutes

Ingredients

1 cup jasmine rice
½ red onion
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
4–5 green onions
3 garlic cloves
Small piece of ginger
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 pound of ground pork
Lime, cut into wedges

Directions

Cook the rice using your preferred method: a rice cooker or on the stovetop. (Use a 1:1 ratio of rice to water for “fluffy not stuffy” rice.)
Slice red onion very finely until you have a pile of onion. If you have a mandolin, use that.
Put some rice wine vinegar on the onions to marinate them (don’t douse them) and put that in the fridge while you prep and cook.
Slice up the green onions, garlic and ginger and set aside.
Make a sauce using the soy sauce, fish sauce and brown sugar and set aside.
Sauté ground pork.
When it’s almost cooked, add the green onion, garlic and ginger. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes longer. This should smell great. If it doesn’t, you’ve screwed up already.
Add the sauce and let it simmer for 2 to 3 minutes.
Spoon the pork over the rice, add some red onion on top (I think this is the key to the dish) and chopped coriander (if you’re the coriander type). Add a lime wedge.

Beverage pairing

A Riesling brings some sweetness to this spicy dish.

The other white meat:

You can substitute ground chicken for the pork for a kosher option.