As part of our lamb CSA share this year we got a lot of ground lamb, so I’ve been trying to think of interesting new ways to use it. This recipe from bon apétite seemed similar to a pork recipe we’ve loved.
It was quick and easy and served 2 greedy people with a smidge leftover.
Lamb Larb
- ½ cup peanuts
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 4 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 pound ground lamb (or pork, or beef)
- Salt
- 1 large shallot, thinly sliced into rings
- 5 scallions, thinly sliced
- 3 red or green Thai chiles, thinly sliced
- 1 lemongrass stalk, bottom third only, tough outer layers removed, thinly sliced
- 2 tablespoons. fresh lime juice
- 1 tablespoons fish sauce (more or less to taste)
- 1 cup torn mint leaves
- Cooked jasmine rice and lime wedges (for serving)
Preheat oven to 350°. Toast peanuts on a rimmed baking sheet, tossing halfway through, until nuts are golden brown, 6—8 minutes. Let cool, then coarsely chop or crush into small pieces.
Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high until shimmering. Add garlic and cook, smashing down on cloves to break into smaller pieces with a wooden spoon, until some parts are golden brown, about 3 minutes.
Push garlic to one side of pan, then add ground meat and a pinch of salt to the other side. Cook, smashing and stirring meat and garlic together, until no clumps remain and meat is no longer pink, about 4 minutes.
Be careful not to overcook; as soon as you can’t see any pink, remove from heat.
Mix in shallot, scallions, chiles, lemongrass, lime juice, fish sauce, and half of peanuts. Let larb cool slightly, then stir in mint. Taste and season with more salt and fish sauce if needed.
Serve over rice, garnish with remaining peanuts and enjoy!
My verdict:
Now I know where the rest of the ground lamb is going! This was really good and easier than the pork recipe we’ve loved. I started a pot of rice and by the time the larb was finished the rice was done.
The original recipe called for serving it with cabbage leaves, which we might have switched out for some bibb or Boston lettuce cups, but no one wanted to go to the store, so we just did it over rice and were perfectly happy.
I roasted the peanuts on a plate in the microwave, for about 3 minutes in 30 second bursts. The oven, or even a dry frying pan would probably work just as well.
I have some ground lemongrass that I keep in the freezer and used about a heaping tablespoon of it for the larb and probably a scant tablespoon of fish sauce. Both worked out perfectly. We were low on limes and I thought the larb could have used a little more lime juice, and possibly another Thai chili or a squirt of Sriracha for a little more kick.
