Photo: Heami Lee • Food Styling: Jessie YuChen. Photo: Heami Lee • Food Styling: Jessie YuChen
Laab is a spicy, tangy salad of ground meat and herbs, laced with lime juice and fish sauce and dusted with toasted rice powder. Here, it’s rolled into meatballs that are fried and served with lettuce for wrapping, and a pungent dipping sauce called nam jim jaew. Nashville chef Arnold Myint’s version includes Golden Mountain, a Thai seasoning made with fermented soybeans that adds a deep layer of umami, and is used in many Thai stir-fries and noodle dishes. Don’t be tempted to skip the toasted rice powder in this dish; it’s what gives laab that signature nutty, smoky note.
Featured in “Teleport Yourself to the Streets of Thailand with These Party Meatballs.”
Yield: 6–8 Time: 1 hour Ingredients For the nam jim jaew sauce: 2 Tbsp. fish sauce 2 Tbsp. fresh lime juice 2 Tbsp. Thai seasoning sauce, preferably Golden Mountain 2 Tbsp. sugar 1½ tsp. ground dried Thai chile flakes 3 large garlic cloves, finely chopped (1 Tbsp.) One 2-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped (1 Tbsp.) For the toasted rice powder: ¼ cup uncooked jasmine or glutinous rice For the meatballs: 1¼ lb. ground pork
