Recipe: Thai Beef Salad

One of our favorite dishes from the Thai cooking class we took was Thai Beef Salad. Yes, a salad made from beef. I think it would be delicious at a summer barbecue. (Ah, how we miss those!) You should be able to find most of the ingredients back in the States, but I think you could get the same effect with some substitutions. This recipe comes from the Classic Home Cooking recipe book, which they gave to each of us after we finished the class. If I haven't said this enough, I very highly recommend them.

Thai Beef Salad (Yam Nua)

Ingredients:
- 100 grams of beef (That's about 3.5 ounces. If you're cooking for a group, you might want to quadruple everything. It's that good.)
- 1 tablespoon of finely sliced shallots
- 1 tablespoon of thinly sliced lemon grass stems. (Don't eat these unless they're sliced very very thinly. They're not poisonous or anything, just a bit too fibrous and flavorful to eat on their own.)
- 1 tablespoon spring onion, chopped
- 1 tablespoon mint leaves
- 1 tablespoon sliced cucumber (I'd use a bit more if you want to make this a bit more 'salad' and a bit less 'beef.')
- 1/2 tomato, sliced

Ingredients for dressing:
- 1 tablespoon crushed garlic
- 2-4 crushed hot chilies. (If you're using the original recipe amounts, I'd recommend no more than 2 peppers, unless you like things with lots of heat. To crush the chilies, use the flat part of your knife to sort of roll the pepper open.)
- 3 teaspoons of lime juice (Adjust to taste. I like it extra-limey.)
- 3 teaspoons fish sauce
- 1 teaspoon palm sugar

Method:

1. Grill beef and then cut into thin strips about 1 inch wide. (I recommend grilling to somewhere between rare and medium rare.)
2. Mix all dressing ingredients in a big bowl. Add the beef and other ingredients.
3. Sprinkle mint leaves on top. Serve with lettuce, cabbage, or whatever else you have on hand.

Happy eating, Thai-style!

-R