Recipe of the week: Buckwheat, lime and herb salad, larb style

Discover the recipe buckwheat, lime and herb salad from Joshua McFadden and Martha Holmberg's Grains for Every Season.

One of my favourite Thai dishes – actually, one my favourite dishes from any cuisine – is larb, a salad usually made with seasoned pork, lots of lime juice, fresh herbs, and chiles that’s served with lettuces and more herbs with which to scoop up the pork. I got inspired by the flavour and texture combinations and decided to make a vegetarian version, using buckwheat instead of the ground meat.

The pairing of crunchy toasted buckwheat and tender, chewy simmered buckwheat creates a fabulous texture. So much of deliciousness comes from texture, right? This recipe makes a large amount, perfect for a party, but feel free to cut the quantities in half.

Serves 8

• Peanut or canola oil
• 360g uncooked buckwheat groats
• Sea salt
• 75g chopped shallots
• 6tbs fresh lime juice (from about 2 limes)
• 1 small fresh red Thai or serrano chile, seeded, deribbed, and thinly sliced
• 2tbs finely grated or minced garlic
• 60ml fish sauce (I like Red Boat)
• Leaves and tender stems from 1 bunch mint
• Leaves and tender stems from ½ bunch coriander
• 120g spring onions, trimmed (including 1.25 cm of the green tops), diagonally sliced and soaked in ice water for 20 minutes, and drained well
• 175g roughly chopped salted roasted peanuts
• Many small iceberg lettuce leaves or hearts of romaine leaves
• Radishes, cucumber slices, lime wedges, and chilli sauce or other hot sauce, for serving

Heat a glug of oil in a heavy-bottomed medium skillet over medium heat. Add a little less than half the buckwheat and cook, stirring frequently, until toasted. Take your time, because you don’t want it to get too dark, but you do want it thoroughly toasted. It should take five to seven minutes, but start tasting around four minutes. The texture should be crisp but not hard and the flavour will be nutty and pleasant. When it’s ready, dump the buckwheat onto a sheet pan and spread out to cool.

Bring a medium saucepan of water to a boil, and add one teaspoon salt and the remaining buckwheat. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook until the buckwheat is tender, 12 to 15 minutes. Drain well and let cool.

Combine the shallots and lime juice in a medium bowl and let sit for about 20 minutes; this will remove some of the harshness of the raw shallots. Stir in the chilli, garlic, fish sauce, three tablespoons of the oil, and one teaspoon of salt.

Transfer the cooked buckwheat to a large bowl, pour on the shallot dressing, and toss thoroughly. (You can do this up to 30 minutes before you serve the salad.)

Just before serving, toss in the toasted buckwheat, mint, cilantro, scallions and peanuts. Taste and adjust the seasoning with more lime juice, fish sauce, or salt.

Arrange the lettuce leaves and other garnishes on a platter, along with the buckwheat mix. Serve right away, inviting the diners to fill lettuce leaves with the buckwheat mixture, some radish and cucumber, and a squeeze of lime. Add hot sauce to taste!