Thai Beef Salad
Thai beef salad, also known as ‘Yum Nua’ in Thailand, is one of the tastiest salads you’ll ever eat. There is the rich beef, the freshness and crunch from the herbs and salad, the salt from the fish sauce, acid from the lime, sweetness from the palm sugar and a bit of heat from the chilli. All these flavours combine in your mouth for a flavour explosion that Thai food is known for.
The origin of the dish can be traced back to the north-eastern region of Thailand, where it was first created by the Isaan people. The dish was originally made with water buffalo meat, which was readily available in the region. The meat was mixed with various herbs and spices, along with lime juice and fish sauce, to create a flavour-packed dish that was both delicious and nutritious. Over time, the Isaan people began to experiment with the dish and added other ingredients such as cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, and chilli to create a more complex flavour profile. The dish was then named ‘Yum Nua’ which means ‘spicy beef salad’ in Thai.
To make this dish is super simple and super quick. Simply sear your beef in a hot pan (or on the BBQ) until rare to med-rare,.Please don’t cook it well done, it loses its juiciness and flavour. Now rest the steak for at least 10 minutes before slicing against the grain for optimal tenderness. While the steak is resting you assemble the salad and the dressing.
The dressing is fairly simple, simply mix everything together well until the palm sugar dissolves. Speaking of palm sugar, if you’ve never used it before it comes in small pucks. Simply finely slice/shave at it with your sharp knife to get the sugar to loosen. This stuff lasts a long time, so a small box of palm sugar will last you years.
When it’s time to dress the salad, I do it in stages as I find it looks much nicer on the plate. First I do all the salad leaves and herbs, toss them in the dressing and then plate it up, then I toss the salad vegetables in the dressing, arrange those on top of the salad leaves, then do the same for the steak slices. Sprinkle with the finely chopped peanuts and you’re done!
Thai Beef Salad
Equipment
- 1 frypan (to sear steak)
- 1 large bowl
Ingredients
- 250 grams/0.55lb steak (something good quality like scotch or porterhouse etc)
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp pepper
- 2 tsp oil (high heat oil like canola, vegetable, rice bran)
Thai Dressing
- 1 red chilli finely diced
- 1 clove of garlic finely minced/crushed
- 1 tbsp palm sugar (finely shaved with your knife)
- 1½ tbsp fish sauce
- 2½ tbsp lime juice freshly squeezed
- ½ tbsp neutral oil (canola, vegetable, rice bran)
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 pinch salt
Salad
- 80 grams/3oz salad leaves either small leaves or cut big leaves into bite size pieces
- 12 cherry tomatoes halved
- ½ small cucumber sliced
- 12 mint leaves torn
- 12 Thai basil leaves torn (note 1)
- ¼ red onion finely sliced
- 3 tbsp roasted peanuts finely diced
Instructions
- Remove steak from refrigerator 30 mins before cooking. After 30 minutes, pat down steak very well with paper towel to dry all surfaces. Salt and pepper entire steak surface.
- Put your frypan over high heat. Add 2 tsp of oil. Place steak in pan, sear it well on both sides to get a nice crust. Cook it to your liking, but I recommend rare to medium rare for optimal tenderness and juiciness. Leave steak to rest on cutting board for 10 minutes before thinly slicing against the grain.
- Add all Thai dressing ingredients to a large bowl and mix well. This makes enough dressing to coat the leaves, vegetables and steak. With this type of dressing you don't want your salad swimming in dressing. Add salad leaves and herbs to the bowl. Toss the leaves in the dressing, then equally divide the leaves between 2 plates. Now to the same with the onion, tomato, cucumber and arrange those on top of the salad leaves. Lastly add the rested and sliced meat to what's left of the dressing, toss, now arrange meat evenly on top of salad on both plates.
- Sprinkle the top of each salad with the roasted chopped peanuts and serve.
If you have raw unroasted peanuts....
- Heat in an oven or air-fryer at 200℃/390℉ for 5-10 minutes until golden brown. Keep a close eye on them, they change from raw to golden very quickly.