Thai Spicy ground Fish with toasted rice

Thai spicy ground fish with toasted rice or "Larb Pla" in Thai. I made Larb Pla for our launch yesterday. This is one of my favorite Esarn dish. My mother is best cooking of this food. I love the way my mother make it. For Esarn style, the usual way to eat this is to get a small ball of sticky rice in the fingers and use it to pick up a little Larb Pla , then eat it with the raw veggies. However it can be served as an appetizer or it can be served as main course along with other non-northeastern food. It is most often made with chicken, beef, duck, turkey, pork or even fish. Here I made with Talapia. I made this dish several times. Every single time I put different ingredients. This time is the best result that I would love to share with you. It is very interesting flavor to put toasted rice powder in the food. It's quick to make and often extremely spicy but the lime juice and mint leaves make for exotic splendid combination. Try to make the dish you will love it.

Ingredients:
1) 1 Lb. ground tilapai
2) 3 kaffir lime leaves
3) 3 green onions
4) 5 sprigs cilantro
6) 3 thinly sliced shallots
7) 1/2 cup chopped mint
8) 2 Tbsp fish sauce
9) 4 Tbsp lime juice
10) 2 Tbsp toasted rice powder
11) 1/2 Tbsp ground dried chili pepper

Preparation:

1) prepare the ground dried chili pepper. Those photos show you big amount because I made for the future. It's easy to find and you can buy anywhere. put dried chili pepper on the pan with medium heat.


2) Stir constantly to avoid burning until dried chili pepper turn to brown


3) Here I used mortar and pestle to grind the dried chili pepper. You can use the electric grinder for more convenient.


4) set aside ground dried chili pepper for the dish.


5) bring 1/2 cup uncooked rice to toast


6) Stir constantly to avoid burning until rice turn to dark colour


7) bring toasted rice to grind , you can use the grinder to save sometime and more convenient. I just broke my grinder so I have no choice to not use mortar and pestle.


8) set aside toasted rice powder


9) chop green onion and cilantro


10) chop mint


11) Slice thinly kaffir lime leaves


12) slice thinly shallots


13) wash fish and prepare to grind


14) ground fish,


15) heat water 2 cup with high heat for cook the fish


16) water is getting boiling put fish to cook on the pot


17) drain the cooked fish and it should have some tiny water come with the fish.


18) then bring to the bowl,


19) add fish sauce, lime juice, ground dried chili pepper, toasted rice powder.


20) add sliced kaffir lime leaves


21) add sliced shallots


22) add chopped cilantro and green onion


23) add chopped mint


24) mix well and taste.


25) It should be a little bit hot and sour. You should be able to taste tartness from the lime juice and the fish sauce.


26) Put the mixed ingredients in a serving bowl.


27) You can put some napa or green leaf lettuce on bottom the plate before larb pla and you can eat whole thing.


28) garnish with spearmint and serve with vegetables like cabbage, green beans and lettuce. The best taste is eat with sticky rice. The usual way to eat this is to get a small ball of sticky rice in the fingers and use it to pick up a little larb Pla , then eat it with the raw veggies. You can also use a fork and spoon as a lot of Thais do. Enjoy!