A sweet-salty Thai hors d’oeuvre that’s perfect for your next cocktail party.
Galloping Horses
Galloping Horses is an incongruous name for a delicious, sweet-salty Thai hors d’oeuvre. The main ingredient is ground pork, and the cooked and cooled mixture is spooned on to segments of fruit such as carambola (star fruit) and oranges or stuffed into lychees. My version is no fuss — I use separated endive leaves, the pale green and white colors making a pretty vessel for the meat.
GALLOPING HORSES RECIPE:
1 lb. ground pork
6 cloves garlic, chopped fine
1/2 cup fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons cooking oil
1/2 cup roasted peanuts, roughly crushed
3 tablespoons fish sauce
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
4 tablespoons brown sugar
1 fresh red chili pepper, chopped fine
leaves from 4-6 endives
1/2 red bell pepper, diced fine
Method:
Fry the chopped garlic in oil until golden brown. Add the ground pork, peanuts, fish sauce, chopped chili peppers, ground black pepper, brown sugar, and cilantro leaves.
Stir constantly until mixture begins to change color, and moisture evaporates.
After about 20 minutes, the mixture should be well cooked. Turn the heat off, stir in the diced bell peppers and leave to cool.
To serve:
Separate the endive leaves in to individual pieces.
Heap a spoonful of this mixture into an endive leaf.
This should be done as close as possible to the time of serving so the leaf does not wilt.
Read the story: Reawaken the Cocktail Party
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