Thai-Style Pork Larb Basil Lettuce Wrap

Thai-inspired meal that is quick, easy, and very delicious ‘salad’ that can brighten up your palate. This Thai-style pork larb basil lettuce wrap is actually some types of meat salad. In this dish, the minced meat is used – I find it best to use either chicken or pork. However, since I only had ground pork handy, I used ground pork in the recipe below.

The ground meat in the pork larb is seasoned well with the combination of ginger, garlic, shallot, basil, lime juice, oyster sauce, fish sauce, Worcestershire sauce and sweet soy sauce. So, you can imagine what a burst of sweet, a tad bit sour, and savory flavor is at play here. Then, this wonderfully seasoned ground meat is wrapped with lettuce to get that crunchy fresh feeling. So, can you imagine all those great flavors in this pork larb? All in one lettuce wrap! I bet one lettuce wrap won’t satisfy your taste bud. You’ll want at least two or more. Anyhow, let’s get cooking, shall we?

Tools I used:

• Non-stick skillet – this non-stick skillet is one of my favorite pans for my cooking needs such as making omelet or just for a quick stir-fry meal. I love that it is easy to clean, not too heavy, and evenly heated your sauce.

Tip: If you don’t like to wrap it with lettuce, you can eat it with fluffy steamed rice and top it off with a sunny-side egg. Then, mix them up for a level-up deliciousness.

Ingredient:

• 1 lb ground pork (or ground chicken)
• 1 cup basil leaf – cleaned
• 3 cloves garlic – minced
• 1 medium-sized shallot – thinly sliced
• ½ inch ginger – minced
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 2 teaspoons fish sauce
• 2 teaspoons sweet soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 lime – squeezed to get the juice
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Lettuce leaves – washed and cleaned (to wrap)

Direction:

• Preheat the olive oil in a skillet under medium heat. Once heated, add garlic, ginger, and shallot. Cook until the shallot is transparent or about 2-3 minutes.
• Add ground pork and cook for another 5 minutes.
• Then, add basil, oyster sauce, fish sauce, sweet soy sauce, and Worcestershire sauce.
• Give it a good stir and let it cook for another 4-5 minutes or until the ground pork are thoroughly cooked.
• Pour the lime juice all over the ground pork and give it one last good stir.
• Serve along with washed lettuce leaves.
• To enjoy: grab one lettuce, add about a spoonful of the ground pork, and wrap it and eat it. You can also add a bit of steamed rice inside the wrap.