Thai Larb with Pork & Fresh Herbs

Ingredients

• 500 g pork mince
• 1 tsp toasted rice powder
• steamed jasmine rice or lettuce cups, to serve
• 4 shallots, finely sliced
• 2 stalks lemongrass, finely chopped
• 3 spring onions, sliced
• 3 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 tbsp lime juice
• 30 g fresh mint
• 30 g fresh coriander
• Pickled cucumber, to serve

Method

1. Pat the pork mince dry with kitchen paper and season generously with salt — water means steam, and steam means no browning. Heat the oil in a wide stainless or cast iron pan over high heat until it shimmers.
2. Brown the pork in two batches. All at once and the pan crowds, water comes out, and you've boiled the meat instead of browning it. Break the mince up with a wooden spoon as it hits the pan and fry each batch for 4–5 minutes until deeply browned and catching at the edges.
3. Return all the pork to the pan, scatter in the cooked red lentils, and stir for another minute so the lentils pick up the fond — those brown stuck bits at the base of the pan are pure flavour.
4. Pull the pan off the heat and let it sit for two minutes. A screaming-hot pan will cook the freshness out of the dressing — you want warm, not raging. Stir through the shallots, lemongrass and toasted rice powder so they soften in the residual heat without losing their bite.
5. Add the fish sauce and lime juice, scraping the base of the pan so the dressing lifts the fond into the pork. Taste, season, taste again — most of the salt comes from the fish sauce, but a final pinch and another squeeze of lime ties it together. Adjust now, not at the table.
6. Just before serving, toss through the mint, coriander and spring onions. The residual warmth should barely wilt them — bright leaves, not stewed.
7. Pile the larb into a serving bowl. Bring it to the table with steamed jasmine rice or baby gem lettuce cups alongside, lime wedges for squeezing, and a generous scatter of toasted sesame seeds over the top.