A bold and fresh dish for those missing dining out with colleagues

The Thai larb salad cups serve two people and take about 25 minutes to prepare.

Charlotte said: “It’s been six month now since I last went into the office and whilst I love working from home and by no means miss the daily commute to Manchester I do miss my favourite Thai restaurant which was an occasional Friday treat with my colleagues. This dish was a regular of mine and although they normally used mince chicken, I prefer doing it with pork (plus ready minced pork is easier than mincing chicken breasts).

“This salad is quick to prepare and the flavours are so fresh and bold your mouth will be thinking there is a full moon party happening! It is on the spicy side so hold back on the chilli if you are not a fan of heat. Hands down this has become my favourite lunch time snack this year and takes away the pain of missing my favourite restaurant. Its great for buffets as the little gem lettuce leaves means you don’t need cutlery but if you want to make it a more substantial main meal just serve it with some rice.

Thai basil can be difficult to get hold of I tend to find it in Waitrose or there is a Chinese supermarket on Bumpers Lane in Sealand, Chester. You can leave it out if it’s too difficult to find, don’t try to replace it with normal basil its very different.”

Ingredients:

•300g pork mince (or mince chicken)

• 1 lemongrass stalk white part only finely chopped

• 1 hot green chilli finely chopped

• 2 tbsp and 1 tsp fish sauce

• 1 tbsp and 1/2tsp sugar

• 2 limes zest and juice

• 1 large red chilli thinly sliced

• ½ red onion thinly sliced

• ½ bunch mint leaves roughly chopped

• ½ bunch coriander leaves roughly chopped

• ½ bunch Thai basil leaved (optional)

• 1 little gem lettuce

Charlotte with the finished dish

Method:

1. Before you start make sure you have chopped and prepped all your ingredients, when working with a wok or stir fry it is quick, and this will make sure you are all prepared

2. In a bowl mix the lime juice, lime zest, 2tbsp fish sauce, sliced red chillies, 1tbsp sugar and 1tbsp water and mix until the sugar has dissolved

3. Heat a wok over a high heat add a tbsp vegetable oil, when smoking add the pork, green chilli and lemongrass and fry continually moving and breaking up the pork for 3-4 minutes until the pork colours

4. Add 1tsps fish sauce and 1/2 tsp sugar to the pork, stir through and remove from the heat

5. Add the red onion, mint, coriander, and Thai basil (if using) to the wok

6. Pour the lime juice dressing over the pork and herbs and mix through

7. Remove each of the little gem lettuce leaves and place them on a serving plate so they create little cups (normally 4-5 per person)

8. Spoon the pork larb mixture into the centre of the cups and serve.