Kroeung Pork and Roasted Pumpkin Rice Bowl with Toasted Rice Crunch

Method

1. Make the kroeung: thinly slice the tender lemongrass, garlic and shallots, and strip and shred the lime leaves. Pound with the turmeric, or blend with 1 tbsp water, to a paste. Set aside a third for the vegetables and two thirds for the pork.

   Add in this stepLemongrass stalks 1½Garlic cloves 3Small shallots 1Ground turmeric ½ tspMakrut lime leaves 3

2. Preheat the oven to 220 °C · 1 tray. Seed the pumpkin and cut it, skin on, into 2 cm wedges; cut the aubergine into 2 cm slices and the beans into 5 cm lengths. In a large bowl mix part of the oil, the salt and a third of the kroeung, toss the vegetables in it and spread them out without overlapping on lined trays.

   Add in this stepPumpkin or butternut squash 220 gThai or Asian aubergine (eggplant) 1Long beans or green beans 80 gNeutral oil 1¾ tbspSalt ½ tsp

   oven

3. Roast for 22 min, turning once halfway. Take them out when the pumpkin is easily pierced with a chopstick and the edges are caramelised.

4. While the vegetables roast, toast the raw rice in a small dry pan over medium-low heat, shaking, for 5 min until deep golden; cool and crush coarsely. Leave some small bits rather than grinding to powder; that is what gives the crunch.

   Add in this stepRaw jasmine rice (for the crunch) 1½ tbsp

   medium-low heat

5. Heat the rest of the oil in a 24 cm frying pan over medium-high heat and fry the remaining two thirds of the kroeung for 30 seconds until fragrant. Add the minced pork, breaking it up with a spatula, then half the fish sauce and half the palm sugar, and stir-fry for 6 min in total, until golden, dry and crumbly with no pink left.

   Add in this stepNeutral oil 1¼ tbspMinced pork 200 gFish sauce 1½ tspPalm sugar (or light brown sugar) ¾ tsp

   medium-high heat

6. Make the dressing: squeeze the limes and stir the juice with the rest of the fish sauce, the rest of the palm sugar and the sliced chilli until the sugar dissolves. It should taste sour, salty, sweet and hot in balance.

   Add in this stepLimes 1Fish sauce 1½ tspPalm sugar (or light brown sugar) ¾ tspBird's eye chillies 1

7. Spoon the hot rice into bowls and arrange the roasted vegetables and pork side by side on top. Add thinly sliced cucumber and a generous handful of mint and coriander leaves, drizzle with the dressing and scatter the toasted rice crunch over at the very end. Eat straight away.

   Add in this stepHot cooked jasmine rice 300 gMint and coriander leaves 10 gCucumber ½