Rare Thai Beef Salad with Beans and Tamarind Dressing

 

Serves 4

This Thai salad is a variation on the Thai beef salad in the previous column. In Thai cuisine, a cook will strive for a good balance of sweet, salty, spicy and sour flavours.

When you make the dressing, be sure to taste it and adjust the amount of palm sugar (sweet), fish sauce (salty), chili (spicy) and lime juice and tamarind water (sour) until you find a balance that you like..

Ingredients

a 400 gram piece of beef fillet
175 grams green beans, topped but not tailed
a large handful mint, finely shredded
a large handful coriander, finely shredded
6 Thai shallots or 2 banana shallots, thinly sliced
4 Kaffir lime leaves, central stem removed and cut into fine slivers

Dressing

2 tablespoons tamarind paste
8 tbsp boiling water
1 tablespoon palm sugar, finely grated
1–2 red chilies
4 tablespoons fish sauce
4 tablespoons lime juice

Instructions

Season the beef fillet on both sides with the salt and pepper.  Heat the oil in a frying pan on high heat, and sear for 4 minutes on each side. Remove to a plate and allow to rest for 10 minutes before slicing.

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil and drop in the breen beans. Simmer them for 1 minute, then remove and cool under cold running water.

Place the beans, herbs, shallots and lime leaves in a bowl and toss to combine.

Meanwhile, make the dressing by soaking the tamarind paste in the boiling water for at least 15 minutes. Strain through a fine colander, pressing down on the tamarind to extract as much liquid as possible. Reserve the liquid discarding the tamarind seeds and fibres.

Place the palm sugar and chilies in a mortar and pestle or food processor and poung until the sugar has dissolved. Whisk in the tamarind water, fish sauce and lime juice.

Pour the dressing over the salad ingredients and toss to combine. Divide the salad between plates and slice the beef thinly on the diagonal and lay it on top. Serve.

Next recipe…

Jennifer Klinec from Eat Drink Talk has kindly agreed to provide Urban Junkies readers with mouthwatering recipes and foodtips.

To learn more, classes at Eat Drink Talk are held in Jennifer's beautiful loft in Clerkenwell, packed with information and useful tips, and you'll get to sample all of the delicious dishes prepared during class.

 

by JK

In collaboration with Eat Drink Talk

Comments:

Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved.