Beef Larb Gai (Thai meat salad)

I dream of taking a gastronomic tour of Thailand at some point.  Thai food has such a beautiful balance of flavours, fragrance and colours.  It is the kind of food that you don't measure exact quantities for, but rather add more or less based on taste.  That is how I like to cook.

This recipe is loosely based around larb gai, which is usually made with pork mince, but I was in the mood for red meat.  Larb gai is a thai meat salad - yes you heard me right.  Meat. Salad.  Omnomnomnom.  It is meant to be a crunchy meat.  Yumyumyum.  It can be served in a lettuce leaf or on rice, as I chose to do tonight.  Traditional larb gai uses sticky rice in the mix which has been ground into a powder, but I've stuck to various beautiful crunchy veggies from the onion family (shallots and salad onions) for crunch.  The fresh herbs make the dish.  It is healthy and delicious.

Easy Thai Green Curry

Who doesn't love it?  Green curry was my introduction to the beauty and balance that is Thai food.  Its creamy, spicy perfection on a plate. For years it was my go to order at Thai restaurants but over time I've diversified.  Tonight I wanted to make a quick and simple version for a bit of comfort given that my back pain has been playing up this week (silly thing - I'm way too young for back problems - right?).  There was very little prep and the outcome was great.  I was aiming for a purely green and white theme visually.  Texturally I wanted a mix of soft, semi soft and crunchy.  I think that this recipe ticked all the boxes.