Thai Beef Salad
I love Thai food, one of my favorite dishes to order when I go out is a traditional Nam Tok or Thai “waterfall beef salad”. I don’t know why they call it that, I think there’s something lost in translation there. It’s a deliciously fresh dish that is grilled beef paired with fresh herbs tossed in salty sour savory dressing. Making it is pretty easy, there are some exotic ingredients that you may not find at your grocery store, but you can usually find them if there is an asian grocery store around. Here’s my take on it anyway, enjoy!
Cookers I Used:
Fuel Used:
Charcoal Briquettes, medium fire
Total time:
30 Min
Ingredients
Protein
2 lbs Beef top round steaks, thinly sliced
Kosher Salt (Dry Brine)
Marinade
1 Cup Low Sodium Soy Sauce
2 Tbsp Coarse black pepper
Dressing
2 Tbsp Toasted Rice (Khao Khua)
2 Tbsp Fish Sauce
Juice from 1 Lime (or 2 small ones)
1 Cup Loosely packed fresh cilantro
¼ Cup Loosely packed fresh mint
1 large red onion (or 2 shallots)
1 tsp table sugar (optional if you like it a little sweet)
Time Line:
4-8 hours before the cook:
I start by taking the meat out of the package and trimming all the excess fat off the edges of the steaks. This is very important, you don’t want these chewy bits in the salad once it’s cooked. Then I put kosher salt on them for the dry brine process.
20 min before the cook:
Take the steaks from the brine and put them in a freezer bag and add the light soy sauce and black pepper marinade while you fire up the grill. Get a good direct zone going, medium heat.
While that’s heating toast the rice. I think this step is critical to the dish. The fragrance and toasty-ness of the rice goes so well with everything else. Grab a couple tablespoons of Thai sweet rice, or jasmine works too. Put it in a small frying pan and spread it out over medium heat. I flip the rice in the pan but you can stir with a wooden spoon occasionally to not burn it. It should smell like popcorn almost and be a nice brown when you’re done. The traditional method calls for you to pound this stuff in a mortar and pestle, that takes a while to do. If you have the time i’d say go for it, a blender or spice grinder works too. I do both methods and in my opinion you don’t lose much by grinding it in the blender.
I prep the herbs and onions. I will coarsely chop the cilantro and mint. I like to cut the onions thin and into “U” shaped pieces, whatever you like though. I think it makes for a nice presentation.
It’s time to grill! Now that you’ve got your grill heated up, put the steaks over direct heat. The thin steaks cook really fast and they will come up to temp quickly. Mine usually take about 2-3 min per side and that’s it. I do my best to get my digital thermometer in the center of the thickest piece to see where I'm at temp-wise.
Pull them off and rest them for about 5 minutes.
Now it’s time to slice, this is another critical part. Slice the steaks into strips at a diagonal to get as much surface area as you can. This will keep the pieces tender and mix well with everything. You really don’t want big chunks of the steak in this dish.
Mix the sliced beef and dressing ingredients in a bowl big enough to mix thoroughly.
I usually do it in this order:
Beef
Chopped Red Onions
Red pepper flakes
Thai Chilis (Optional)
Cilantro
Mint
Toasted Rice
Fish sauce
Lime Juice
Once it’s mixed it’s ready to go. I throw it on a plate with a couple extra lime wedges. I pair this with sticky rice and steamed or grilled vegetables. It’s a fresh tasting dish that goes great with summer time.
TLDR Steps:
Trim the beef
Marinate the steaks in Soy Sauce and black pepper for 4-8 hours
Grill the steaks to 130-135F
Make the dressing
Slice the Steaks
Combine ingredients in a bowl and mix
Serve and eat with a side of jasmine or sticky rice!