Ground Beef Larb-Style Lettuce Cups

Ingredients

• 12 oz Ground Beef, ground or finely chopped
• 2 tbsp fish sauce or soy sauce
• 2 limes, juiced
• 1 tsp sugar
• 2 shallots, sliced paper-thin
• 2 tbsp toasted rice powder (toast raw rice, then grind)
• Big handfuls mint and cilantro
• 1 head butter or iceberg lettuce, in cups
• Chili flakes, to taste
• Sticky or jasmine rice, to serve

Method

1. Toast 2 tablespoons of raw rice in a dry pan until deeply golden and nutty, then grind to coarse sand. Do not skip this — it's the soul of larb.
2. Cook the Ground Beef in a hot pan with no oil needed, breaking it into small crumbles, until just cooked and lightly browned.
3. Off the heat, dress with fish sauce, lime juice, sugar, and chili flakes. It should punch: salty, sour, hot, barely sweet.
4. Fold in shallots, herbs, and the rice powder. Spoon into lettuce cups and eat with your hands, over rice, immediately.