Lao Nam Khao (Crispy Rice Salad)

Cook Time 2

Servings 4 people

Ingredients

Instructions

Soak the coconut in a bowl of water. After about an hour, remove and drain it.
Mix in the coconut with the rice, pork mince, tumeric and curry until well-combined. Try to break up the rice if it’s stuck together in large pieces, but avoid making the chunks too small either.
Season with salt, sugar and fish sauce, then break in the eggs and combine altogether.
Take about a fistful of the rice mixture and roll into balls. Deep fry them in oil at about 180 degrees until they are golden brown.
Break up the som moo (fermented pork) into small chunks, then generously sprinkle it with lemon. Then, after the rice balls have cooled, begin breaking them up over the pork in chunks.
Taste the rice salad, then add fish sauce to taste. Garnish with chopped green onion, coriander and chilli if you prefer. Serve on its own or in lettuce cups.

Notes

Some tips you might find useful:

Fermented pork can be bought from specialty stores and Asian supermarkets. However, if you can't get your hands on it don’t fret! You can use ham, even though it’s not exactly the same thing.
If you don't have any leftover jasmine rice, cook it with a little less water than you would usually so that it's drier. Whatever you do, don't use rice that's too fresh as it'll make the mixture sloshy.
When rolling the balls, make them round but slightly flattened. This ensures maximum surface area and crunchiness ;)
Keep in mind that when you add the herbs at the end, the flavour will become less intense. So ideally, when you taste the rice mixture before then it should be slightly too salty.