Wednesday's taster evening

The taster evening on Wednesday was a great success, we'll have some pictures next week but for now, here's how to make a Thai Beef Salad the wallacespace way...

Simple Thai beef salad recipe

AKA posh steak and salad, this is a Thai classic that's good for 'in on your own' or to wow your friends with.  It offers great value because the steak goes much further used sliced like this in a salad and is healthy, simple and quick.  If you don't have or can't get all the right ingredients, substitute at will.  Suggestions below. This recipe serves 4 and takes about 20 mins to prepare.

Ingredients:

8oz rump steak (don't use fillet - it's likely to get drowned out by these strong flavours)

The dressing:

2 cloves garlic

tsp black peppercorns

a chilli (hot)

1-2 tsp sugar (sweet)

1-2 tbsp lime juice (sour)

3-4 tbsp fish sauce (salt)

The salad:

1/2 a sliced red onion

3-4 tomatoes quartered

1/2 cucumber, sliced

lettuce leaves of choice

The wow factor extras:

coriander

mint

basil (normal/ Holy or sweet)

Griddle the steak for 2-3 mintues per side depending on how rare or not you like it. Set aside to rest and yield it's juices.  Meantime, in a pestle and mortar, crush the garlic with black peppercorns to form the base of the dressing.  Then add your Big 4 Thai tastes: chilli & sugar followed by the fish sauce & lime juice.  Adjust more sweet/ hot/ sour and salt according to taste until you are happy with the balance. Experiment.

When rested, slice your steak into long thin strips and add to this all the meat juices, tomatoes and oniions. Set aside for 20-30 minutes if you have the time to allow the flavours to meld.  On a serving plate, make a bed of lettuce, cucumber and any of the 'wow factor extras' that interest you.  Lay the beef mixture with all its juices in a pile on the middle of the plate.  Finish with a few coriander leaves if you have some to spare.  Serve with steamed rice.

Substitutions

If you haven't got all the right stuff, improvise.  Some workable substitutions are:

Fish sauce (salt) - salt and water, soy sauce

Lime juice (sour) - lemon/ grapefruit, vinegar

Chilli (hot) - any kind - bonnets,  birds eye, big ones, small ones

Sugar (sweet) - white, brown or borrowed!

Tip

Fish sauce to lime juice proportions = 1:2