98 •
My Regenerative KitchenStarters and Snacks
• 99
Toast the rice in a dry skillet over medium-high heat, moving it constantly, until a deep brown color develops. Don’t stop at golden brown; or the best avor you want it dark brown but not burnt. Transer the toasted rice in a cofee or spice grinder, or a mortar and pestle, and grind into a coarse powder. Letovers can be stored in a spice jar at room temperature or about a week, but it’s best to make only what you will need.
1/4 cup (50 g) uncooked white rice
Toasted Rice Powder
Makes about 2 tablespoons
In a small bowl, whisk hal o the grated ginger with the lime juice, soy sauce, honey, and chilis. Set the dressing aside.Prepare an ice bath in a large bowl. I you are using green cabbage, cut the head in hal through the core, remove the limp outer leaves, and care-ully peel of three perect sturdy leaves. Place them in the ice bath to rm up until ready to eat. I using lettuce, peel of three large leaves and dunk them in the ice bath to rm up beore drying with a towel. Let these sit while you prepare the lling.Pulse the mushrooms in a ood processor or chop until you have pea-size pieces. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until shimmer-ing. Add the remaining ginger and the mushrooms, shallot, lemongrass, and garlic. You are not looking to get color on anything here, you just want to sauté until the mushrooms are cooked through and the mixture is well combined. Season with the toasted rice powder and salt and pepper to taste. Transer the mixture to a towel-lined plate to drain.I using cabbage, remove it rom the ice bath and dry with a towel. Divide the mushroom lling among the three dry cabbage or lettuce leaves. Pour a little dressing over each larb cup, then gar-nish with the mint, Thai basil, and scallion. Serve, with the remaining dressing on the side.
-inch (2.5 cm) piece resh ginger, peeled and gratedJuice o 2 limes tablespoon soy sauce teaspoon honey Thai chilis, stemmed and thinly sliced3 green cabbage or sturdy lettuce leaves8 ounces (230 g) mushrooms tablespoon avocado oil or Garlic Conft oil (page 000) shallot, fnely chopped lemongrass stalk, outer leaves removed, fnely chopped garlic clove, grated tablespoon Toasted Rice Powder (recipe ollows)Sea salt and reshly ground black pepper2 mint sprigs, leaves picked2 Thai basil sprigs, leaves picked scallion, thinly sliced
Mushroom Larb Lettuce Cups
Makes 3 servings
This quick, go-to canapé or amily-style starter packs heat and crunch. Larb is typically made o ground meat and lots o scallions and resh herbs such as mint and cilantro. It is dressed with lime juice, sh sauce, dried chili akes, and the most important ingredient o all: toasted rice powder. Here, I’m doing this method with mushrooms to mirror the robust umami. Mushrooms and their ungi networks are critical to soil health, providing necessary nutrients and water to plants that are oten removed by conventional tilling and pesticides. You can use any mushrooms o your choice, and a mix is lovely.
