Binging with Babish: Larb from Spider-Man: Homecoming

"I thought you loved Larb!" "Is it too Larb-y?" "Not Larb enough?" "You know, you 'Larb'." *plate noise* "Sticky rice pudding." "Well, we didn't order that." "It's in the house." "Oh thanks!" "That's very kind of him." "I think she 'makes it' for you. *airy giggle*" BABISH: Hello guys? Welcome back to "Binging with Babish". This week we'll take a look at Larb from "Spider-Man: Homecoming." A dish I didn't really know existed until I saw the movie. But I'm so glad I did, because it's delicious. Unfortunately, to make an authentic Larb, you need to get your hands on some Thai glutinous rice. (Oops, I left the price tag there.

That's rude.) I'm going to open this MRE style from Steve1989, from the back, and this bag, unfortunately, lacks reinforcement. But still he manages to fend for himself. Check it out. NICE ! And then this goes into a dry pan. Because we're making Khao Khua, which is basically roasted and finely ground Thai sticky rice. This recipe is courtesy of Mark Wiens, a true font of knowledge on all Southeast Asian cuisine. The basic idea here is that we want to dry roast these grains for about 15 to 20 minutes over medium-low heat until they resemble grain or barley, but make sure to keep it moving the entire time so it doesn't burn.

Once done, we will remove it from the heat and let it cool completely before pulverizing it into a powder. You can use a high-powered blender like a Vitamix to do this. But the old way is to use a mortar and pestle and keep turning it up and down until it feels nice and nice ( ͡~ ͜ʖ ͡°) Why? Everyone laughs? But no, seriously, we want a powder that has granules small enough that they won't get stuck in your teeth, but large enough that they still retain some crunch. So just apply it until it looks like very coarse sand. Now we have to negotiate our Larb accoutrements: a small shallot, a few scallions, some fresh mint, some cilantro and some fresh lemongrass.

We will simply thinly slice the shallot, thinly slice the scallions, and then very finely chop the lemongrass; We want to chop it as finely as possible because it is a little tough. Make sure all your herbs are washed and dried and then we'll keep them whole, making sure to remove all the stems from our devil's lettuce. And there we go, all our mise is in place. So let's take it to the stove, where we heat a few tablespoons of vegetable oil over medium-high heat until shimmering, add 1 pound of ground pork, and take it for a quick trip to Browntown, adding the lemongrass during the last minute of cooking.

Once it is fully cooked and crumbled into bite-sized pieces, we remove it from the heat and, only then, start adding other things. First, a few generous pinches of Thai chili powder. Of course, you can use a pinch of regular chili powder if you're in a pinch. Next, an even smaller pinch, about 1/8 tablespoon, of sugar, a good splash, or about 1/2 tablespoon, of fish sauce, a very healthy double splash of lemon juice, acidity is a part essential of this dish. to offset the richness and spiciness, and then our prepared vegetables: our thinly sliced ​​shallots and green onions, a bunch of mint leaves that we'll leave whole, because they're good to eat like any other morsel. , and then a couple of generous spoonfuls of our Khao Khua.

Which, if you can't find it or don't want to make it, won't ruin the dish but will really take it to the next level. Mix it all together, taste it for seasoning, add salt if necessary, but I'm going to add a little more of this toasted rice powder, because this is great, and this can be served with glutinous rice or papaya. salad, but in the movie it seems like they serve it with lettuce. So I'm going to pile this up here and make myself some lettuce wraps and, of course, the last most essential ingredient: lots and lots of cilantro.

Also known as The Biggest Problem I'll Have Traveling in Southeast Asia One Day. Pro tip: leave the cilantro in large chunks so you can pull it up very easily when the cameras aren't rolling and your audience will never know the difference. *Ha ha...* So, grab a lettuce wrap and move on. I must say: this rules. It has a complex flavor, is nice and spicy, has a nutty crunch from the toasted rice powder, and is not too Larb-y and not too little Larb-y. It's just Larb-y enough. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to finish them without altering them in the slightest.

Once you've entered the Clean Plate Club™, it's time to start thinking about dessert. I'm not Marissa Tomei, so no one is going to bring me free sticky rice pudding, so I have to make my own. First, we soak three cups of sweet sticky rice in about four cups of water, salt with MAH to break up any clumps, cover and let sit at room temperature for at least 6 hours up to 24. After that, it's time to get cooking. Uncover the rice and strain it. And then, it's time to tackle the difficult question of how to steam rice without a steamer.

Well, a good trick is to boil a few inches of water in a large pot, place the rice in the colander right over the water, and then cover with the lid of the pot. I thought this would let too much steam escape, but it turned out to actually be a pretty effective way to steam rice. We'll cook this for about 30 minutes total, open after 15 minutes to give it a good stir, make sure everyone is evenly exposed to the steam, cover again and let cook until tender and shiny. It is during this time that we are going to prepare our sweetened coconut sauce.

In a small sos'pin goes 16 oz of coconut milk, which we are going to heat to about 200 degrees before adding 3/4 cup of sugar, turning off the heat and whisking a little to combine. Set it aside and keep warm while the rice finishes cooking. Then once the rice is ready, we'll put it in a large bowl and then while it's still hot, we'll pour in about half of our coconut sauce. above. Mix well to make sure every last grain is ~saturated~. and then we cover and let those flavors get to know each other for about 20 minutes. We want the rice to absorb a lot of that coconut goodness and we want it to stay a little warm for serving.

While you relax, we will prepare a mango by peeling it. And then the mangoes have a long, thin, oval-shaped pit, so we're going to cut around that, which will leave us with two nice mango domes that we can slice thinly and place decoratively on a plate. This rice would probably also taste great with bananas, pineapple, or peaches. But the handle is traditional. Now that the rice is ready, I will place it in a mold that I lined with plastic wrap, invert it on the designated plate and lift it to reveal the beautiful mono... well... molded rice pudding, covered with lots and lots of , lots of coconut sauce, and be sure to serve more on the side. (You'll want).

Garnish with some optional mint, and voila: Thai sticky rice pudding is cold, hot, sweet and sticky, and I totally lab it.