Thai Larb Lettuce Cupswith mango and cucumber salsa
In Thailand, larb is the name for a super simple dish of finely chopped protein sauteed with a bit of seasoning and tossed with fresh herbs and lime juice. We've given this dish a Cook Smarts twist by adding quinoa and serving it in lettuce cups.
Smarts: As you can imagine, in Thailand this dish is usually very spicy, so don't hesitate to add extra red pepper flakes or hot sauce if you'd like to serve it that way.
Ingredients
- Quinoa, uncooked - 3/4 cup
- Stock, any type - 1 1/2 cups
- Garlic - 2 cloves, chopped
- Soy sauce, low-sodium - 3 Tbsp
- Fish sauce - 1 tsp
- Sugar - 1/4 tsp
- Red pepper flakes (opt) - 1/2 tsp
- Mint, fresh - 6 leaves, finely chopped
- Cilantro - 1/4 cup, finely chopped
- Limes - 1, wedges
- Lettuce, butterhead - 12 leaves, sub iceberg
- Water - 1 Tbsp
- Cornstarch - 1 tsp
- Oil, cooking - 1 Tbsp
- Pork, ground - 1 lb
- Peanuts - 1/4 cup
- Hot sauce (opt) - for serving
- Cucumbers - 8 oz, diced
- Mangos - 2, diced
- Vinegar, rice - 1 tsp
Nutrition Facts
Prep
- Quinoa - (Skip if made ahead for Monday.) Combine quinoa with stock in a saucepan. Add some salt. Bring to a boil covered. Lower heat, keep covered, and cook until liquid is absorbed, 8 to 10 minutes. (Can be done up to 5 days ahead)
- Make sauce - Chop garlic. Combine garlic, soy sauce, fish sauce, sugar, and red pepper flakes. (Can be done up to 5 days ahead)
- Mint / Cilantro / Limes / Lettuce - Prep as directed. Combine mint and cilantro. Store limes and lettuce separately. (Can be done up to 5 days ahead)
- Cucumbers / Mangos - Prep as directed.
- Make slurry - Whisk together water and cornstarch.
Make
- Combine cucumbers, mangos, and vinegar.
- Heat a wok or large skillet with oil over medium-high heat. Add pork and saute until nearly cooked through, ~5 minutes.
- Add sauce and bring to a simmer. When sauce is simmering, give cornstarch slurry a stir and add it to pork. Stir everything together and continue cooking until sauce thickens and pork is fully cooked.
- Remove pork from heat and stir in quinoa, mint, and cilantro. Squeeze half the lime wedges over top.
- Assemble lettuce cups by filling lettuce leaves with pork, peanuts, and hot sauce (if using). Squeeze extra lime wedges over top. Serve mango cucumber salsa on the side or spoon some onto lettuce cups if you’d like. Enjoy!
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Reviews
This meal has 35 reviews
Love it, would add extra mint next time and maybe cook the quinoa without stock
Entire family loved this!
Extremely good! I made this with ground lamb by accident (grabbed the wrong meat!) and it turned out delicious!
Very enjoyable, the kids loved the finger food aspect of the lettuce cups, and my husband took all the leftovers and made a quick salad for lunch the next day which was less messy for him. Will definitely make again
This was absolutely delicious! My family doesn't care for quinoa, so I substituted an equal quantity of brown rice and it turned out perfectly! Excellent flavor. I omitted the cilantro and mint and it still turned out great! I've been asked to keep this in the meal rotation. It's a little messy but worth it.
OMG. Healthy, flavorful and fresh. There was a lot of chopping but it was worth it. Used turkey with a shallot. Reduced quinoa to only 1 dry cup. Used romaine... Not as round but it's what I had in the house. A new fav