Thai Beef Salad, 'Yum Nuea'

One of our favorite recipes, the meat is barbequed then tossed with a delicious mixture of sweet, sesame-inspired smoky hot sauce and fresh vegetables. It should be served with jasmine rice, but it's also delicious with sticky rice (soaking up the sauce). Yam nuea literally means "tossed beef". This is a simple beef "salad", and can be eaten hot or cold. This should be on the hot side of neutral, but really is more spicy than "hot". It is normal to add sunstantial amounts of hot condiments to it to suit yourself (see the section on condiments below).

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

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).

Condiments

Serve with the usual Thai condiments. You can also add fish sauce, dark sweet soy, and sriracha sauce if you wish.

Dips

A useful "auxiliary dipping sauce" is made by mixing one part dark soy with one part Worcestershire sauce, one part fish sauce and one part hot mustard.

Another dipping sauce is the following (known as nam prik narok in Thai, it is translated as "Hell Fire Sauce" in English).

Flake the fish and deep fry until the flakes turn golden brown. Chop the chilis, 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.

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.