Larb is up there with the greats when it comes to warm-weather dining. Over-the-top chilli lifts your temperature tolerance, the zing of lime beats sucking on a Calippo any day and the cool leaves wrapping the whole package are as refreshing as wet tea towel straight out of the fridge.
Traditionally, the dish centres on minced meat, often chicken or beef, which is a bummer for people who choose not to eat things with a pulse. Luckily, plant-based-cooking queen Shannon Martinez has devised her own take on the Southeast Asian classic.
"Larb is one of those crave-worthy dishes. It’s fresh, spicy and salty,” says Martinez. “The perfect thing to eat on a super hot day with an ice-cold beer."
Follow Martinez’s instructions, crack a tinnie and enjoy.
Smith & Deli’s Larb Salad
Serves 4 to 6 as a side salad or 2 as a main.
Ingredients:
2 tbsp Thai sticky rice
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp grated ginger
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 lemongrass stalk, white part only, very finely sliced
200g soaked TVP (Textured Vegetable Protein) or veggie mince
1 tbsp pickled chilli or 1 red bird’s eye chilli, chopped (we like things spicy, so this recipe is quite spicy as it stands, but feel free to omit or even add more)
Two limes, juiced
2 tbsp vegan fish sauce
1 tsp brown or palm sugar (jaggery)
1 tsp sesame oil
½ tbsp soy sauce
60ml (¼ cup) water
1 shallot, halved and thinly sliced
2 kaffir lime leaves, finely shredded
1 big handful of Thai basil
1 big handful of Vietnamese mint
1 big handful of coriander
1 handful of bean sprouts
200g cherry tomatoes, halved
1 tbsp roasted peanuts
1 head butter lettuce (or any pretty little lettuce you can get), washed, plus extra leaves to serve
Lime wedges, to serve
Method:
Add the sticky rice to a small, dry frying pan (no oil) and toast over a medium heat, stirring constantly, until dark golden brown. Transfer to a small bowl and leave to cool. Then grind the rice to a fine powder in a mortar and pestle or a blender. Set aside.
Heat the vegetable oil in a large frying pan over a medium-high heat, then add the ginger, garlic and lemongrass. Fry for a minute or so until it begins to turn a light golden colour – not dark. Add the TVP and fry until golden brown and crispy. Once crispy, add a heaped tablespoon of the powdered rice to the mixture and stir to coat.
Stir in the chilli, lime juice, fish sauce, brown sugar, sesame oil, soy sauce and water. Add the shallot and kaffir lime leaf and stir through, keeping the heat nice and high so they are partly cooked. You want them to be semi-raw and coated in flavour. Remove from the heat.
In a large bowl, combine herbs, bean sprouts, cherry tomatoes and peanuts, then add the TVP mixture. Check the flavour and, if needed, add the juice of another half a lime. Add an extra teaspoon of rice powder and mix well to ensure everything is coated.
Arrange the lettuce leaves on a serving dish and pile the larb on top. Serve with lime wedges and extra lettuce leaves.
This is an edited extract from Smith & Deli-cious by Shannon Martinez & Mo Wyse, published by Hardie Grant Books. RRP $50.
