Is it a salad? Is it a wrap? No. It’s larb, and it’s here to make your lunchtime tastier. This is a brilliant healthy-but-tasty finger-food meal for when you have friends over and want to put something fun and informal in the middle of the table for everyone to dig into. Great texture, great colour and great taste. What’s not to love?
Ingredients:
Serves 4 (as a lunch or starter)
• 2 x 400g tins jackfruit
• 1 lemongrass stalk
• 1 garlic clove
• 2.5cm piece fresh ginger
• 2-3 red chillies
• 10g fresh coriander
• 10g fresh mint
• 50g salted peanuts
• 2 baby gem lettuces
• 1 Tbsp groundnut oil
For the dressing
• 2 limes
• 1 banana shallot
• 1 Tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp sweet chilli sauce
Method:
Roast the jackfruit
Preheat oven to 200°C and Line a baking tray. Drain and rinse the jackfruit, then pat dry with a clean tea towel. Spread out on the lined baking tray and roast in the oven for 20 minutes. Use two forks to pull apart and shred the jackfruit when cooked. Meanwhile, prepare the remaining ingredients; trim the lemongrass stalk, strip the bark and slice finely. Peel and finely grate the garlic and ginger. Finely slice the chillies. Pick the coriander leaves and finely slice the stems. Pick the mint leaves. Break the peanuts up in a pestle and mortar. Cut stems of the lettuce, pull apart the larger leaves and rinse under cold water. Halve the limes for the dressing. Peel the shallot, cut it in half and finely slice it lengthways.
Cook the larb
Warm the oil in a wok over a medium-high heat. Add the jackfruit and stir for 3-4 minutes. Add the lemongrass, garlic, ginger, two of the chillies and the coriander stems. Stir for 2 minutes. Turn the heat down to very low to keep warm, stirring occasionally to make sure it doesn’t catch.
Make the dressing
Squeeze the lime juice into a bowl and add the sliced shallot and squash it slightly to break it down a little. Add the soy sauce and sweet chilli and stir to combine.
Serve
Spoon the jackfruit mixture into the lettuce leaves, drizzle over the dressing, garnish with the fresh coriander, mint leaves, broken peanuts and a few slices of chilli if you like it extra kicky! Serve immediately.
Ian and Henry, founders of BOSH!, have a burning desire to show the world just how easy it can be to eat plants. Whether you’re looking to overhaul your entire philosophy around what you eat, or simply looking for meat-free Monday inspiration, they’ve got your back. Their inventive food creations reached more than half a billion people in just their first year. They don’t do dull dinners and want to spread the word: going more plant-based doesn’t need to be restrictive or boring. In fact, it can be downright delicious.
BOSH! on a Budget by Henry Firth and Ian Theasby is out now
published by HQ, £16.99