Mou nem is a salad of rice semolina flavored with galanga and lemon zest. It is a speciality of Luang-Prabang. In Laos the dish is made with pork skin and large chili peppers. In my recipe, I use pork belly and bell peppers.
For 4 persons
Ingredients
1 to 2 lettuces
800 g cooked jasmin rice
250 g of pork belly
½ teaspoon of salt
6 tablespoons of fish sauce
2 teaspoons of galanga peeled then very finely chopped
2 teaspoons of very finely chopped lemon zest
65 g of sugar
100 g red bell pepper, minced
50 g onion, minced
2 tablespoons of vinegar
50 g sweet and sour marinated garlic or shallot, minced
50 g coriander, coarsely chopped
4 green onions, cut into 3cm pieces
chilli peppers
Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Spread the rice on a baking tray covered with baking paper and bake for 40 minutes.
Soak the bell pepper and onion in water with vinegar for 30 minutes. Drain and set aside.
In a small saucepan cook the pork in 300 ml of water with salt for 15 minutes with the lid closed. Remove the pork and mince it. Season the stock with the fish sauce and set aside.
Grind the rice in a coffee grinder.
In a large salad bowl, mix the ground rice, galanga, lemon zest and sugar.
Moisten with the stock, mix well and leave the grains to swell for 10 to 20 minutes -it will depend on the grinding size.
Crumble the rice with a fork. Add the pork, bell pepper, onion and marinated garlic and mix well. Leave the rice grains to swell for another 10 minutes.
Garnish with coriander and green onions. Serve with lettuce and chilli peppers.
I advise you to have a coffee grinder reserved exclusively for rice. You don't want your rice to taste like coffee.
Sweet and sour garlic and shallot are available in cans or jars in Asian food stores.
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