Thai Beef Salad, Yam Nuea Yang (ยำเนื้อย่าง)

Thai Grilled Beef Salad

Yam Nuea Yang   (ยำเนื้อย่าง), Thai grilled beef salad

Hot and spicy Thai salad of medium rare filet, Thai and Australian salad ingredients with a nam jim dressing. The nam jim can be really hot but if the sweet, sour, salty and hot flavours are in balance it will be acceptable to even the most sensitive of palates.

Serves 4

Ingredients

Filet of beef (about 650 g), at room temperature

1 x 200g pkt cherry tomatoes, halved

1 lettuce leaves torn into pieces

1 Lebanese cucumber, halved lengthways, thinly sliced diagonally

1 red onion, sliced

2 long fresh red chillies, halved, deseeded, thinly sliced lengthways

1 bunch fresh mint, leaves picked, large leaves torn

1 bunch fresh coriander leaves picked

1 bunch fresh Thai basil, leaves picked, large leaves torn

55g (1/3 cup) toasted peanuts, coarsely chopped

4 affirm lime leaves, centre veins removed, finely shredded

Nam Jim dressing

1 tsp palm sugar, chopped

30 ml (1 ½Tbs) fresh lime juice

60 ml (3 Tbs) fish sauce (Nam Pla)

2 red bird's eye chillies (scuds), more if desired, chopped

1 cm knob of ginger, peeled and chopped

2 cloves garlic

3 coriander roots, chopped

Method

1. Place the palm sugar, coriander, garlic and ginger into a mortar and using a pestle grind for a minute or two, until the mix is coarsely ground. Add the chillies and continue to grind. Be aware that the longer you grind, the more the flavours develop, especially the chilli. Add the remaining ingredients and mix together. Taste and adjust for sugar, fish sauce or lime. The key is to achieve a balance between the sweet, sour, salty and spicy tastes

2. Preheat a barbecue grill or char grill pan on high. Cook steak on grill to medium rare or to your liking. Transfer to a plate. Cover with foil and set aside for 10 minutes to rest. Then thinly slice across the grain into bite size pieces.

3. Place the lettuce, tomato, cucumber, onion, chilli, mint, coriander, basil, peanuts and lime leaves in a large bowl. Add sliced beef to the salad. Drizzle with dressing and gently toss to combine. Serve immediately.

Nam Jim, the ubiquitous Thai salad dressing, is used to dress all manner of salads, most famously Thai beef salad. You will need to throw out all you know about western (farang) salad dressings that contain oil and vinegar. Nam jim is the essence of the idea of flavour balance in Thai cuisine. This balance is achieved when four main flavours (hot, sour, sweet and salty) mix in harmony, none dominating. The heat of chillies, sweet, sour and salty combine, and to increase a single flavour it is not just a case of adding more of that ingredient. It has to be subtly blended so that no one flavour is overwhelming