Thai Lemongrass Larb Meatballs

In a frying pan, set the stove on low heat and toast the glutinous rice for 5-10 minutes or until golden brown. (Keep the pan moving to prevent the rice from burning)

Once the rice has been toasted, let it cool and grind it to a medium powder with a mortar and pestle or food processor and set it aside.

Remove and discard the stems and spine of each kaffir lime leaf and set it aside.

If you are using a stalk of lemongrass, remove and discard the dried tips and the stem base. You only want to use the white stem of the lemongrass.

Peel and remove the skins from the garlic and shallots.

In a food processor, grind the: kaffir lime leaves, galangal, lemongrass, garlic, and shallots.You can also chop these all by hand but make sure you finely chop them so you don't get big chunks in your meatballs

In a large bowl, combine the ground pork, lime juice, fish sauce, sugar, toasted glutinous rice powder, and freshly ground aromatics together and mix it by hand or with a stand mixer.

Roll the meat mixture into 1 inch meatballs.

In a pan, put 1/4 to 1/2 inch of oil and set the stove to medium heat.Wait for the oil to get hot and shimmery before adding the meatballs to cook.Alternatively, if you want more of a pan-fried meatball, you can use less oil.

Cook the meatballs for 5-7 minutes, until golden brown. Flipping them every 30 seconds to evenly cook it all the way through.

Enjoy!

As a Noodle BowlBoil some vermicelli noodles and add the noodles and meatballs into the bowl. Garnish it with fresh mint (or Thai basil), cucumbers, cilantro and some juice from a wedge of lime for some zing. Top it with crushed nuts for a bit of crunch.Sauces: Sriracha, Nuoc Cham (A sweet, sour, and salty dressing), thinned-out hoisin dipping sauce

As a Lettuce WrapAs a wrap, we found using Boston lettuce or green leaf lettuce (different from iceberg lettuce and romaine lettuce) the easiest to roll with. Top it with vermicelli, crushed nuts, and bean sprouts.Sauces: Sriracha, thinned-out hoisin dipping sauce.

As a SaladChop up any type of green lettuce and top it with chopped vermicelli, bean sprouts, finely minced green onions and any type of fresh vegetable and fruit (like mango!). Serve with crushed nuts for some crunch and a light vinaigrette dressing such as nuoc cham (sweet, sour, and salty fish sauce dressing)