We used to have this dish a laotian restaurant in China town in Paris. I kept a very gourmande memory of this fried rice and I have to say, I am very proud of the result. I think the original dish was made with uncooked fermented pork, I used chinese sausage instead.

It is a very friendly dish to share as everyone spoons in and eat with their fingers.

Serves 6 adults

For the rice balls:
3 cups cooked rice
500g ground pork
1 egg
½ tsp white pepper powder
½ tsp paprika
pinch of salt

For the salad mixture:
3 sticks of chinese pork sausage
pinch of salt
1 red onion chopped very thin
¼ cup shredded ginger
½ cup chopped coriander
2 tbsp fish sauce
3 tbsp lime juice
4 tbsp toasted crushed peanuts
1 cup vegetable oil for frying

For serving:
mint leaves
extra coriander leaves
lettuce leaves

RECIPE

1. Cook the chinese sausage and set aside.Using kitchen towel absord the excess of oil from the sausage.
2. Fry the shredded ginger and set aside.
3. Mix cooked rice, pork, egg, white pepper powder, paprika and salt together.
4. Make medium size balls of the rice mixture.  If it sticks to your hand, putting a little oil on your hands to help.
5. In a pan, heat up the oil until very hot and deep fry the balls about 4-5 minutes or until golden brown. The outside of balls must be hard and very crispy.
6. Set aside the balls to cool on a flat rack or board. Do not pill them up in a bowl, they will lose their crispiness.
7. In a very large bowl, mix together salt, chopped cilantro, fried ginger, red onions, roasted peanuts, chinese sausage

8. Crumble fried rice balls into small chunks. Add the rice ball chunks to the salad  mixture
9. Pour the lime and fish sauce together over the mixture and mix well like you would for salad dressing.

HOW TO EAT IT?

1. Grab some lettuce
2. Spoon in some nam khao
3. Add extra cilantro, mint and crushed peanuts
4. Roll it and shove it in your mouth!

Cost: Pasar chinese sausage 2,55SGD (Fairprice), Porkee frozen minced pork 3,95 (Fairprice), Tong Garden Freshly roasted peanut 5,90SGD for 1kg bag using only 4tbsp (Mustafas), Coriander 50g 0,90SGD ( Fairprice finest), head lettuce  2,45 SGD ( Fairprice finest) + spices and vegetables= 14 SGD

If you’ve had this dish in Laos and either the recipe was very different or the way of eating it, please let me know. I have not been to Laos yet…