Thai Farmers-Market Corn and Long Bean Salad with Lime, Chili and Toasted Rice

Toast the raw rice in a dry skillet over medium heat, shaking often, for 8 to 10 minutes until deeply golden and popcorn-fragrant. Cool, then grind to a coarse sand in a mortar or spice grinder. This khao khua is the whole point — do not skip it.

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons raw jasmine rice
• 4 ears sweet corn, husked
• 8 oz (225 g) long beans or green beans, cut into 2-inch lengths
• 1 cup (150 g) cherry tomatoes, halved
• 3 shallots, thinly sliced
• 2 to 3 red bird's eye chilies, thinly sliced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 tablespoons fish sauce
• 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 1 tablespoon palm sugar or light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup (15 g) fresh cilantro leaves
• 1/3 cup (10 g) fresh mint leaves
• 1/3 cup (45 g) roasted peanuts, roughly crushed

Instructions

1. Toast the raw rice in a dry skillet over medium heat, shaking often, for 8 to 10 minutes until deeply golden and popcorn-fragrant. Cool, then grind to a coarse sand in a mortar or spice grinder. This khao khua is the whole point — do not skip it.
2. Grill or char the corn directly over a hot grill or gas flame, turning, until blistered in spots, about 8 minutes. Let cool slightly, then cut the kernels from the cobs.
3. Blanch the long beans in boiling salted water for 90 seconds, then plunge into ice water. Drain and pat thoroughly dry.
4. Whisk the fish sauce, lime juice, palm sugar, garlic, and chilies together until the sugar dissolves. Taste it on its own: it should be sharp, salty, hot, and only faintly sweet, in that order.
5. Combine the corn, long beans, tomatoes, and shallots in a large bowl.
6. Pour over the dressing and toss well. Let it sit 5 minutes so the shallots soften and the beans drink up the lime.
7. Fold through most of the cilantro and mint, keeping a handful back.
8. Transfer to a serving bowl and scatter with the toasted rice powder, crushed peanuts, and reserved herbs. Serve immediately — the rice powder loses its crunch within about 20 minutes.
9. This is a yam, the Thai salad family that runs on raw heat and lime rather than oil, and it is built for exactly this moment in the growing season, when corn is at its sugariest and long beans are still snapping crisp. The toasted rice powder is the Isaan north-east's signature move, borrowed here from larb: it adds a nutty grit that keeps a wet salad from feeling watery, and it turns a handful of market vegetables into something that eats like a full lunch.

Nutrition (estimated, per serving)

• Calories: 310 kcal
• Protein: 11g
• Fat: 10g
• Carbohydrates: 48g
• Fiber: 8g
• Sugar: 16g
• Sodium: 1120mg