Larb Deluxe

Larb, the national dish of Laos. It's basically a funky sloppy joe kind of thing, with fish sauce and fresh herbs and lime juice. Sour and spicy.

The straight up recipe is very simple, but i's all meat. I like to add carb and veg for microwave lunches, so I added vermicelli pasta and snow peas. The larb part is traditional.

• 1-1.5 lb ground meat (I used pork)
• 2 tablespoons peanut oil for frying
• 1 cup of chopped onion, I used two cups because onion.
• 1 tablespoon chicken bullion paste
• 1/4 cup finely chopped peanuts
• 1-2 tablespoons chili garlic paste to taste
• 4 tablespoons fish sauce (a bit funkier than traditional but my fish sauce is mild)
• Juice of 3-4 limes
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1/4-ish cup each of mint, basil and cilantro, go with what you like
• 1 cup of sliced green onion for garnish
• 1-2 teaspoons ground Szechuan peppercorns, because I'm in a Szechuan peppercorn phase and I love the weird burn.
• 8 ounces fine vermicelli, cooked (the short broken kind, in the US  you can find a mexican branded kind. You can use angel hair pasta and put it in a jar and crush-grind it down using any non-glass implement of destruction until it's down to half inch bits.
• 8 ounces trimmed and lightly cooked snow peas,  I use the microwave for 2 minutes with a little water.

Cook the ground meat in some water and add the bullion paste before it evaporates, and brown it nicely. When it's mostly done add the peanut and onion until half cooked. Turn off heat and add the chili paste, fish sauce, lime juice, chopped herbs, green onion, cooked pasta and snow peas. Taste and season, add more of what you like, toss and serve.

Tangy sour-spicy and unctuous, very satisfying. Mmm, larby goodness.