Tag: East Asian
Hmong-Style Larb
Hmong-Style Larb
Larb comes in many forms and spellings. This pork salad is popular all over Southeast Asia in countries such as Vietnam, Thailand, and Laos. It is herbaceous, pungent, and has a refreshing taste. Larb is served with green leaf lettuce, eaten as a wrap. The best part of larb is the toasted rice powder that adds a slight crunch
Equipment
- Spice grinder
Ingredients
- 3/4 lb ground pork
- 2 tbsp fish sauce
- 2 tsp ginger minced
- 1 garlic clove minced
- 1 lime zested and juiced
- 1 stalk lemongrass minced
- 2 Thai chilies minced
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 3 green onions thinly sliced
- 1 cup cilantro roughly chopped
- 1/3 cup mint
- 1 cup cucumber chopped into small cubes
- 1 drizzle sesame oil
- green leaf lettuce for serving
Toasted Rice Powder
- 1/4 cup jasmine rice
Instructions
- Add the rice to a small skillet over medium heat. Gently toast the rice for 5 minutes until it is golden brown. Allow to cool.
- Add the toasted rice to a spice grinder.
- Grind into a powder. Set aside.
- In a sauté pan, brown the pork over medium high heat for 8 minutes. Drain any grease from the pan.
- Toss all of the ingredients together in a bowl.
Hmong Smoked Pork with Ginger and Lemongrass
Hmong Smoked Pork with Ginger and Lemongrass
Earlier I did a Hmong recipe for smoked beef. You can do the same smoking process with pork. I used pork sirloin since it is minimally fatty and inexpensive. The pork is cured overnight and smoked for 90 minutes over mesquite wood. The pork gets shredded in a food processor, then mixed with ginger, lemongrass, chilies, cilantro, and green onions. This flavorful, porky mix gets topped over steamed rice. The heat from the rice melts any fat in the meat as it permeates the ginger and lemongrass. FYI, this is also one of the best pork jerky recipes that you’ll ever eat.
Equipment
- Electric Smoker
- meat hooks
- food processor
Ingredients
- 4 lbs pork sirloin sliced 1/4” thick
- 1 tbsp pink curing salts
- 1 tsp mushroom seasoning
- 1/2 cup ginger minced
- 1/2 cup lemongrass finely chopped
- 1 cup cilantro chopped
- 1 cup green onions chopped
- 5 Thai chilies finely chopped
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 tsp salt
Wood Chips
- mesquite wood chips
Instructions
- Mix together the curing salts and mushroom seasoning.
- Marinate the pork with the cure seasoning overnight.
- Put the pork slices on a meat hooks.
- Preheat your smoker to 250 degrees. Hang the pork on the top rack in your smoker.
- Smoke for 90 minutes. Remove from the smoker.
- Place the pork on a baking sheet. Bake in a 400 degree preheated oven for 8 minutes a side to further dry out the pork.
- Place the pork in a food and pulse until chopped. Place the pork in a large bowl.
- Place the ginger, lemongrass, and chilies in the food processor and pulse a few times.
- Mix together the pork, lemongrass/ginger blend, cilantro, green onions, fish sauce, and salt.
Spam and Egg Fried Rice
Spam and Egg Fried Rice
SPAM and egg fried rice is commonly eaten in many Asian cultures. It’s inexpensive and quick and easy to make; giving you your bang for your buck.
Ingredients
- 2 cups day old cooked white rice
- 1/2 can SPAM diced into small cubes
- 4 large eggs beaten
- 1 small onion diced
- 4 green onions chopped
- 2 tsp light soy sauce
- 1 tsp fish sauce
- 2 tsp sugar
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- sesame oil
Instructions
- Heat 1 tbsp of the cooking oil in a large sauté pan or wok over medium high heat. Add the beaten eggs to the pan. Allow to set for a minute.
- Scramble the eggs. Cook for another minute and remove from the pan.
- Add the rest of the cooking oil to the pan. Add in the spam and onion. Cook for 4 minutes.
- Add in the rice. Break up all of the clumps. Fry for 4 minutes.
- Season the rice with soy sauce, fish sauce, and sugar.
- Add the eggs back into the rice along with the green onions. Cook for 2 more minutes.
