Hello hi everyone! Wesley here. Today we’re diving back into our series on foods from TV and film with some inspiration from the Larb Gai Spider-Man: Homecoming. For those not familiar, larb gai or just “larb” as it is often colloquially referred to, is a Thai small plate dish composed of ground minced meat and aromatic veggies that are sauteed and wrapped in fresh butter lettuce leaf. There are MANY variations on this classic Thai dish that can include all kinds of veggies and aromatics, like Thai chiles, Thai basil, green onions, and more.

Personally as far as I can tell though, by FAR the key to a more “larb-y” larb gai (in the words of Aunt May) comes from the use of dry toasted rice powder which we’ll be using to season our ground mince meat. This is also where a number of our key Thai ingredients are going to come into play as well, including glutinous rice, lemongrass, and my two personal favorites, a bit of galangal root and kefir lime leaves, both of which you’ll find come up in a of Thai cuisine for their iconic aromatic flavors. Hope you try it.

It will be out on Friday July 30, 2021, so bookmark the recipe here, and be sure to subscribe and hit the bell on YouTube to get notified when it’s out!

Woo Can Cook is a series where we reproduce fun foods and recipes from my childhood. Some of them are authentically Chinese and/or pan-Asian, but a lot of them are odd Americanized versions that I inherited from my parents and grandparents while growing up in the Bay Area/California.

We're live streaming every Mon/Tues/Thurs at 6:30PM PST, with new recipes out every Friday!