Eat Healthy and Cheap
Larb-Style Mushroom Salad
Traditional larb gets its salt and funk from fish sauce and its char from ground meat seared hard in a pan. This version rebuilds both without either. Mushrooms, minced fine and cooked dry until their water cooks off, take on the same savory, faintly crisp texture that ground meat gives the dish. Toasted rice, ground to a coarse powder, is the ingredient that actually defines larb: it thickens the dressing and adds a nutty crunch that oil or a store-bought larb powder would otherwise supply, while lime and a little tamari carry the salt and sour that fish sauce normally would.
Ingredients
- 20 oz Cremini mushrooms, trimmed
- 3 tbsp short grain brown rice, raw
- 2 Shallots, thinly sliced
- 2 cloves Garlic, minced
- 3 Scallions, sliced, whites and greens kept separate
- 2 Thai bird chiles, minced, or to taste
- 2 Limes, juiced
- 1 tbsp Low-sodium tamari
- 1/2 cup Mint, leaves, torn
- 3 tbsp Cilantro, chopped
- 1 head Romaine, leaves separated, for cups
Method
- Toast the rice: put the raw short-grain brown rice in a small dry skillet over medium heat and stir often until it turns deep gold and smells like popcorn, 5 to 7 minutes. Cool it, then grind to a coarse powder in a spice grinder or with a mortar and pestle. This toasted rice, khao khua in Lao and Thai cooking, is what actually makes larb larb: it thickens the dressing and adds crunch with no oil and no flour.
- Pulse the mushrooms in a food processor, in batches, until they look like coarse ground meat. Stop before they turn to paste. No processor works fine too, just mince by hand with a heavy knife.
- Cook the mushrooms in a wide, dry skillet over medium-high heat, spread in one layer. Leave them undisturbed for 3 minutes so they release their water, then stir occasionally until that water cooks off and the mushrooms start to brown and smell savory, 8 to 10 minutes total. This dry-sear does the job a hot oiled pan usually does: it drives off water so the mushroom's flavor concentrates instead of steaming.
- Stir in the garlic and the scallion whites and cook 1 minute more, just until fragrant, then take the pan off the heat.
- Whisk the lime juice, tamari, and minced chile in a small bowl. This dressing carries the salt, sour, and heat that fish sauce and palm sugar carry in a traditional larb, without either.
- Pour the dressing over the warm mushrooms and toss right away. Warm mushrooms absorb dressing instead of pooling it beneath them.
- Fold in the shallots and half the rice powder, mint, and cilantro. Save the rest of the herbs and rice powder for the top, added just before serving, so they stay bright and crunchy instead of going limp in the warm mushrooms.
- Taste. A good larb hits sour first, then salty, then hot, with the toasted rice rounding out the back. Adjust with more lime, tamari, or chile.
- Spoon the mushroom mixture into the romaine leaves, scatter the scallion greens and the reserved herbs and rice powder over the top, and serve with extra lime wedges.
Nutrition
Estimated per serving: 115 calories, 6 g protein, 4 g fiber. Computed from USDA FoodData Central reference values for the main ingredients. This is an approximation, not a laboratory measurement.
Cost per serving is estimated from US national-average retail prices for cheap staple forms, using BLS dried-bean prices and USDA produce prices. Prices vary by store and season, so treat it as a guide, not a receipt.
