Thai Beef Salad, "Yum Nuea"

 This recipe is taken from the Thai Kitchen at Import Foods with their permission.  You can find all the ingredients both prepared and fresh at their website at importfood.com. 

This is one of my wife, Donna's, favorite foods on earth.  Donna loves beef and the tang that comes with this recipe makes your palate stand up and cheer.

Ingredients

1 lb beef. Any beef can be used such as the top sirloin used in this recipe.

Salad:

¼ cup sliced onions, separated
2 tomatoes, wedged
¼ cup sliced cucumber
¼ cup thinly sliced Thai chili peppers

Sauce:

¼ cup fish sauce
¼ cup lime juice
1 tablespoon sweet dark soy sauce
3 tablespoons minced garlic
3 tablespoons minced ginger
3 tablespoons chopped coriander/cilantro (including the roots)
¼ cup chopped green onions (spring onions)
¼ cup chopped shallots (small red or purple onions)
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon chili oil

Nam Prik Narok (Hell Fire Sauce) - If you like it hot!:

oil to deep fry
2 pound of filleted white fleshed freshwater fish
2 cups Thai chili peppers
½ cup garlic
½ cup shallots
3 tablespoons shrimp paste
¼ cup fish sauce
3-4 tablespoons palm sugar.

Cooking Method

Barbeque the beef, and thinly slice it into bite sized pieces.  Combine with the salad ingredients, and mix the sauce and toss the whole.

Variants: This can also be made with pork (yum moo), or even with shrimp (yum khoong) . An interesting variant is to use thinly sliced luncheon meat or even Spam.  Vegetarians can experiment with using a julienned vegetable mix in place of the meat.

Serving:

Serve with sticky rice, lettuce, condiments and dipping sauce. You can also put a few Thai green peppercorns on the BBQ and add them with the garnish (makes a very nice touch, as this all goes together very well).
 

Nam Prik Narok Sauce:

Flake the fish and deep fry until the flakes turn golden brown. Chop the chilies, shallots and garlic, then [charcoal] broil them briefly and beat the ingredients together in a mortar and pestle or food processor to form a smooth paste.

Place in a small saucepan or wok and cook on medium high until the mixture forms a bubbling paste.

The resultant sauce paste may be stored, when cold, in a tight fitting jar, for several weeks.

Sauce ingredients

Barbeque the beef

Slice into 1/4" pieces

Put them all together

Add the sauce & mix

Serve and enjoy