Nam Khao

1. Rinse the jasmine rice well under cold water, then place into a rice cooker with water and cook according to rice cooker instructions.
2. Once the rice is cooked, scoop out onto a large mixing bowl or a tray to cool for 15-20 minutes.
3. While the rice is cooling, remove the centre stems from the lime leaves and discard, then finely slice the leaves.
4. Peel the shallot, slice in half and finely slice.
5. In a small bowl or jug, add curry paste, egg and sugar and whisk together to combine.
6. Add chicken mince, desiccated coconut and curry paste mixture to the cooled rice.
7. Using your hands, combine all the ingredients together, making sure everything is evenly mixed through.
8. Take a handful of the rice mixture and shape into a ball, making sure it’s tightly packed together otherwise it will fall apart while frying (if the mixture is sticking to your hands you can lightly oil your hands to help with this).
9. Repeat with the rest of the mixture.
10. Heat oil in a large pot or deep fryer.
11. Once the oil is hot enough, carefully add rice balls into the oil. Don’t overcrowd them, only cook 5-6 rice balls at a time at most.
12. Once the rice balls are golden brown and cooked through (approx. 10 minutes), remove them with a slotted spoon onto a paper towel lined plate to soak up any residual oil.
13. Repeat until all rice balls are cooked.
14. Prepare the salad ingredients: toast peanuts in a pan for 2-3 minutes until just golden and set aside (you can crush these with a mortar and pestle if you have it, or leave them whole), finely slice coriander and spring onion, and peel, halve and thinly slice the shallot.
15. Crumble the rice balls into a large mixing bowl.
16. Add coriander, spring onion, shallot, juice of the lime, fish sauce and sugar and mix through to combine.
17. Add to a serving dish and sprinkle over the toasted peanuts.
18. Prepare the salad to serve with: cut the bottoms off the lettuce heads, wash and separate leaves and wash the cucumbers, halve lengthways and thinly slice. Arrange lettuce, cucumbers, remaining coriander leaves and dried chilli (if using) on a separate plate or tray, to provide an option for wrapping the crispy rice salad in lettuce if wanted.

Please read ingredient/allergen notes on fish sauce – most fish sauce brands use just fish, but some might use shellfish.