Thai Beef Salad

Now that Melbourne's heat wave is over, I can get back to really planning and thinking about food without my brain melting! The weather is still warm, as you'd expect in summer, but not so hot that you don't have the energy to do anything.

I've never been very good at cooking Thai or Asian dishes, as I just don't seem to be able to get the balance of flavours right without using a recipe. For our wedding almost five years ago, we were given the beautiful Neil Perry cookbook, Balance and Harmony. Not only is this the most beautiful looking book you've ever seen, with a padded box and satin ribbons, but it has some delicious recipes in it. Some are rather fancy and need a lot of unusual ingredients, but others are simple and so tasty.

A few years ago I made the prawn toast recipe for Chinese New Year, and they were amazing. Crispy, deep fried goodness! This year they are going to be on the menu again.

With the hot weather we had last week I started to crave some Thai flavours. What could be better in hot weather than to bombard your palate with chilli, lime, ginger and garlic! This Thai beef salad hit the spot. I added some rice noodles, spring onions and shredded snow peas to the salad to add some more texture, but the flavours of the marinade and the dressing are all Neil's. The meat is best marinated over night, so make sure you prepare this part the night before you want to eat it.

Thai Beef Salad

1 piece of porterhouse steak, fat and rind removed

2 Tbs oyster sauce

1 Tbs fish sauce

1 Tbs grated palm sugar

1/2 tsp sesame oil

1Tbs lemongrass, finely chopped

1 large red chilli, seeds removed and finely chopped

1 clove of garlic, chopped

1 Tbs caster sugar

1 Tbs fish sauce

Juice of 1 lime

50g vermicelli noodles

3 spring onions, finely sliced

A handful of fresh coriander, coarsely chopped

A handful of baby cos leaves

A handful of  snow peas, thinly sliced lengthways

A handful of Thai basil, coarsely chopped

To marinate the meat, combine oyster sauce, fish sauce, palm sugar and sesame oil in a bowl and stir to dissolve the sugar. 

Add the meat and turn to coat. Allow to marinate in a covered container in the fridge overnight.

The next day, make the dressing by pounding lemongrass, chilli, garlic and sugar in a mortar and pestle to form a paste.

Add the fish sauce and lime juice. Set aside.

To make the salad, soak noodles in warm water for 10-15 minutes, or until softened. Drain well and set aside in a large bowl.

Add spring onions, coriander, coarsely chopped cos lettuce leaves and snow peas.

Pour over half the dressing and toss to combine.

Heat a frypan on high heat.

Remove the meat from the marinade and allow the excess to drip off.

Fry in the pan for approx 3 minutes each side, or until cooked to your liking. You still want the centre of the meat to be pink.

Set the meat aside to rest, covered with foil, for 5 minutes.

Thickly slice the meat.

To serve, place a decent amount of the salad on two plates and then place half the meat on top of each  plate.

Spoon the remaining dressing over the top of the meat and then sprinkle with the Thai basil.

Enjoy!

And To Drink...

We didn't have anything alcoholic to drink with this salad, but there are so many drinks that would match perfectly.

From a wine perspective, you could have a beautiful aromatic Riesling or Gewerztraminer. Even a slightly sweeter Frontignac would match perfectly with the chilli and lime. A nice fruity rose would also be a good combination, especially when it is well chilled on a hot night.

If you didn't want to have wine, then a lighter style beer would also be great. Nothing too hoppy, but a refreshing Corona, or similar beer would be perfect.