On Monday I
announced that I'd won the "Urban Foodie" spot in Field Roast's
"Cooks in the Field" recipe contest. Field Roast will be publishing
one of my original recipes on their website each month from December 2013
through September 2014, and I am so ridiculously excited about this
opportunity. I'll be sharing these recipes on the blog as soon as Field Roast
has published them… starting today! Field Roast is sharing all three winners'
entry recipes on their website this week: Adam's Mexican Chipotle Mushroom Boomers, Sarah's Linguine alla Checca, and my own recipe (!!!) for Laotian Minced Meat Lettuce Cups (aka "Larb").
For my entry recipe,
I decided to highlight the underappreciated cuisine of Laos, Thailand's
neighbor to the east. Laotian food is often mis-labeled as Thai due to the
cultural cross-over between the two countries, and as such flies under the
radar of most foodies. Larb - a minced-meat "salad" often served in lettuce cups or alongside sticky rice - is considered the national dish of Laos. It's a
wonderfully flavorful mix of rich meat, tart lime, bright lemongrass and
ginger, funky fish sauce, a dash of dried chili, and a healthy amount of fresh
mint, cilantro, and scallions. Yum, right?
My vegan Larb uses
Field Roast's Classic Meatloaf to create a juicy, savory ground meat
alternative - a few pulses in the food processor, and you've got minced meat!
The only other necessary twist was replacing the fish sauce with my favorite
combo of soy sauce and red miso (a trick from my Vegan Pad Thai). It's a simple
dish to make, with a ton of complex flavors and textures. The addition of
toasted rice powder - dry-toasted grains of rice that are pulverized in a spice
ginder - gives the salad a surprising crunch and nuttiness, so don't be shy in
sprinkling it on. You'll be glad you did.
Vegan Larb (Laotian Minced
Meat Lettuce Cups)
Created for Field Roast Grain Meat Co.
Serves 4-6
2 tablespoons lime
juice (about 1 lime)
1 tablespoon
low-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon red
miso
1 pound Field Roast Classic Meatloaf, roughly chopped
1/4 cup uncooked
Thai sticky rice (sweet glutinous rice)
1 teaspoon neutral
oil (peanut)
1 tablespoon minced
lemongrass or lemongrass paste
1 teaspoon finely
grated ginger (I used a microplane)
3/4 teaspoon red
pepper flakes
1/4 cup water, to
deglaze the pan
1/2 cup chopped
scallions, white and green parts divided
1/3 cup chopped
cilantro, divided
1/3 cup chopped
mint, divided
1 head butter
lettuce, leaves separated, washed, and dried
Whisk together lime
juice, soy sauce, and miso in a small bowl until miso dissolves. Set aside. In
a food processor, pulse chopped meatloaf until it has texture of ground meat,
about 1 minute. Set aside.
Place a large pan
over medium heat and add the uncooked rice. Cook, stirring often, until grains
are deeply golden, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a plate to cool, then grind
into a fine powder with a spice/coffee grinder. Set aside.
Return the large pan
to medium-high heat and add oil, swirling to coat pan. Add lemongrass, ginger,
and red pepper flakes and cook briefly until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add
the ground meatloaf to the pan and stir to combine with the oil and spices. Add
white scallions and cook ground meatloaf for 2-4 minutes, stirring constantly,
until hot and slightly browned. While cooking, deglaze the pan as needed by
adding a bit of water and scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to
loosen all the "brown bits" (you want that flavor inside your larb,
not stuck to the pan). When done, remove pan from heat, stir in the sauce, and
transfer ground meatloaf to a bowl to cool to room temperature.
Once cool, stir in
the green scallions, 1 1/2 tablespoons toasted rice powder, and 1/4 cup each of
the cilantro and mint. To assemble lettuce wraps, place 1/4 cup of the ground
meat mixture in each lettuce leaf, then garnish with remaining cilantro, mint, and
toasted rice flour. Serve alongside sticky rice.
I am thrilled to be working with Field Roast as a
"Cooks in the Field" recipe developer. Please note that my contract
with Field Roast does not include any sponsored posts on Braisen Woman - all
words and content of this post are my own. In accordance with FTC guidelines,
any and all sponsored content will be clearly disclosed as such.