Nam khao is a Lao salad from Tha Deua, a port village outside Vientiane. Seasoned rice is rolled into balls, fried until the outside goes hard, then smashed apart and tossed hot through herbs, peanuts and lime. Peanut Rayu was made for it. Peanuts, chilli, sesame and tamari already in the jar, going straight onto the one dish built around crushed peanuts and crunch.
40 mins. Serves 4.
Ingredients
- 3 cups Cooked jasmine rice, cold, ideally a day old
- 3 dessertspoons Plateit Japanese Peanut Rayu
- 200g Firm tofu, pressed and cut small
- 2 tbsp Red curry paste
- 3 tbsp Cornflour
- 2 tbsp Lime juice
- 1 tbsp Tamari
- 1 tsp Caster sugar
- 40g Roasted peanuts, crushed
- 2 Shallots, sliced thin
- Mint, coriander and spring onion, a large handful of each
- Baby cos leaves, to scoop
- Oil for frying, salt
Method
- Mash the cold rice with the curry paste, cornflour and a good pinch of salt until it holds together in your hand. Cold rice only. Fresh rice has too much water in it and the balls come apart in the oil.
- Roll into balls about the size of a golf ball and flatten each one slightly.
- Fry the tofu in 2cm of oil until golden and crisp on every side. Out onto paper towel.
- Same oil up to 180C. Rice balls in, in batches, 4 to 5 mins, turning, until deep gold and hard to the touch. Drain.
- Whisk the lime juice, tamari and sugar together.
- Crumble the rice balls into a big bowl while they are still warm. Leave the pieces uneven. That is the whole texture of the dish.
- Tofu, herbs, shallots and peanuts in. Dressing over. Toss with your hands.
- 3 dessertspoons of Plateit Japanese Peanut Rayu spooned over the top. Cos leaves on the side to scoop it up.
Do this: Crumble and dress while warm. Cold crumbs go leathery and stop taking the dressing.
Check the paste: Most red curry pastes carry shrimp paste. Read the jar if this needs to stay vegan.
Swap it: Naem, the cured pork sausage, in place of the tofu is the version they eat in Laos.
