Ingredients
Mince Mixture
- 2 tsp neutral oil (or 1 cup water to saute)
- 2 tsp stock powder, chicken flavour
- 400 - 450g firm tofu, crumbled
- 400g can brown lentils or equivalent
- 2 serves - Chickpea scramble eggs (optional)
Sauce
- 3 Tbsp Vegan Fish Sauce
- 3 Tbsp Lime Juice
- 1 Tbsp Garlic, minced
- 1 Tbsp Ginger, minced
- 1/2 - 1 tsp lemongrass powder
- 2 Tbsp fresh Mint leaves, chiffonade
- 2 Tbsp fresh Coriander stems, finely chopped/ or Thai basil as preferred.
- 3-4 cups of green onions, chopped
Garnish
- 1/2 - 1 tsp chilli flakes (hot)
- Coriander leaves
- Cos or Gem Lettuce
- 150 - 200g Rocket leaves
- Vermicelli noodles
- Extra lime juice
- Kaffir lime leaves, chiffonade
- Rice papers for making rolls
Instructions
Preparation
- Drain and pat tofu dry, crumble into a small-ish crumb. Drain lentils and set aside.
- Combine all sauce ingredients into a small bowl and prepare any garnish you choose to use.
Cooking
- Heat a sizeable pan and decide whether to oil or water to reduce the ingredients sticking to the pan.
- Add oil or stock along with tofu and lentils. Stir through and either brown or cook until liquid has been absorbed.
- Add the sauce and stir through, cook until all liquid is absorbed. Add the green onions and stir through to wilt. Remove from the heat.
Serve
- Depending on when you plan to consume your larb, there are a few options once your mince is flavoured and prepared.
- BOWL FOOD - Consider serving hot larb over some wild rocket leaves in a bowl on on a large platter, the leaves provide a freshness along with some extra pep. Alternatively, you can serve over rice, with wedges of fresh lime.
- LETTUCE WRAPS - Messy but grand, prepare some washed lettuce leaves, and any other additives you like. we usually add vermicelli, rocket and coriander leaves with more lime.
- RICE PAPER ROLLS - Using most of the same ingredients assemble rice rolls, depending on your rolling skills, consider shredding bigger items like lettuce and even stirring them through the mince to combine.
Notes
- So, I have a perennial basil that grows like mint, which is to say - everywhere... As such, I tend to use fresh basil rather than buying plastic wrapped coriander only to have it get slimy in the fridge before I can use it. But you do you :)
- I have an abundance of green onions in my home garden, which make a fantastic soup, but I also dice and freeze a bunch for winter which means I can make this all year with very little trouble.
- You can use a red or brown onion you don't have the green, just use half as much... Pretty sure you could use cabbage instead of any onions if that was necessary for you.
- If you have a problem with alliums and want to avoid garlic, increase the amount of ginger by half again.
- This dish is traditionally a spicy mince meat dish, we keep the spice low because our extended family doesn't enjoy too much chilli, also, when not using a more fatty mince like pork the heat can get out of control. Better to know your chilli, know your limits and learn to enjoy the other fresh flavours abundant in this dish before dialling it up to 11.
- This dish does use fish sauce, which we have a vegan recipe for, we make ours gluten free so we don't have to worry and regardless of our vegan reasons it allows my seafood allergic brother to enjoy so many new flavours from around the world. You can buy vegan fish sauce which can be expensive, but it basically just adds a heavy dose of salt to a dish. It is an iconic flavour for so many recipes from Thailand and surrounding areas, and our recipe is cheap and easy so consider giving it a try.
- Larb is one of those things I used to really enjoy before going vegan, so really happy to be able to re-introduce this into my diet, it's light and tasty really not all that bad for you. You can make it ahead of time, leave it in the fridge for 2-3 days or more and either heat and serve or make it into something more portable like rice rolls and use it up throughout the week. Perfect for warmer weather when cold but just as comforting in the winter when served warm.