Naem Khao is a crispy coconut rice salad tossed with naem and enjoyed as a lettuce wrap.
What is Naem?
Naem is a fermented pork sausage. It can be hard to find especially during a pandemic and time consuming to make. So to substitute, we can use ham and cooked pork skin slices instead. This can be found in the freezer section of any Asian grocery store. To get the sour flavor of naem, the ham and sliced pork skin is soaked in lime juice and garlic cloves for at least an hour. You can even prepare this a couple days ahead.
How To Make the Rice Balls
To make the rice balls, I find it best to use freshly made rice than to use day old rice. Let the rice cool down then mix it with the grated coconut, red curry paste, chopped onion, salt, sugar, knorr chicken powder, egg yolks and black pepper together. Take a handful of the rice mixture and form tight compact rice balls.
Preheat vegetable oil to 350°F in a deep pot. Deep fry the rice balls in batches for 4-5 minutes or until they are golden brown. Let them cool on a tray with paper towels or a baking rack.
After it cools down, the rice balls are broken down and mixed with the ham, pork skin and crushed peanuts. We further season the salad with fish sauce, sugar, salt and lime juice. I find it best to use your hands to break down the rice balls and toss the salad.
All these flavors will satisfy your cravings. The crushed roasted peanuts in this dish will have the perfect crunch to every bite!
We serve Naem Khao as a lettuce wrap with mint, cilantro, perilla leaves and fried dried chili. The fried dried chilis can be quite spicy so only break off a little bit with each wrap!
Make this for your next potluck and you will always find this at any Laotian party next to Papaya Salad.
- 4 Cups Jasmine Rice
- 3 T Red Curry Spice
- 1 Whole Yellow Onion Chopped
- 16oz Bag Grated Coconut
- 2 Egg Yolks
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Sugar
- 1 tsp Knorr Chicken Stock Powder
- 1 T Paprika
- 1/2 tsp Black Pepper
- Vegetable Oil For Deep Frying
- 1 C Ham chopped into small cubes
- 8oz Bag Cooked Pork Skin Sliced
- 2 cloves Garlic smashed
- 2 whole Lime juiced
- 1/2 C Crushed Roasted Peanuts
- 6 T Fish Sauce
- 3 T Sugar
- 3 whole Lime juiced
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 bunch Cilantro finely chopped
- 1 bunch Green Onions finely chopped
- 1 whole Lettuce
- Fried Dried Chillis
- 1 bunch Perilla Leaves
- 1 bunch Mint
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Thaw the pork skin and rinse with warm water and a pinch of salt.
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Chop the ham into small cubes and put into a ziplock bag. Add the pork skin and 2 smashed garlic cloves. Add the juice of 2 limes and set aside in the fridge for at least couple hours. You can prepare this a day ahead.
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Cook the jasmine rice on the dry side. Let it cool.
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In a medium bowl, add all the ingredients and mix with your hand.
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Once it's mixed well. Form tightly packed balls.
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Preheat the vegetable oil to 350°F. Make sure the balls are fully submerged in the oil. Fry for about 5 minutes or until the rice balls are golden brown. Let them cool on a paper towel or a baking rack.
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When they have cooled. Crumble them into a bowl.
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Add the ham and pork skin. Discard the garlic.
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Season with Fish sauce, lime juice and sugar.
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Add crushed roasted peanuts, chopped cilantro and green onions.
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Garnish with fried dried chilis!