There are about as many variations of this classic Thai cold beef salad as there are cattle on a thousand hills, so don’t don’t be surprised if it doesn’t have exactly the ingredients you think it should have. ~ Haikuman
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Another “Low Carb World Tour™” Recipe from Haikuman.
Ingredients:
2 Pounds Beef tenderloin, London Broil, thick Top Round steak or other very lean cut of beef.
1/4 Cup Fresh Lime Juice
1/4 Cup Fresh Cilantro — chopped
2 Heads of Romaine — enough to attractively cover a platter with leaves of a usable size.
1 Cup Fresh Thai Basil — chopped
2 or 3 Tomatoes — thinly sliced
1 Jalapeño pepper — finely minced
3 Shallots — thinly sliced
2 Garlic cloves — crushed and finely minced
3 Small cucumbers — cut in half lengthwise, scrape out seeds with a small spoon and thinly slice.
2-3 Tablespoons Nam Pla (Thai fish sauce) or Nước Mấm (Vietnamese Fish Sauce) Double check label to see if wheat-free. Red Boat Fish Sauce is the best in my opinion)
Fresh ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon Stevia powder or a half dropper-full of the liquid Stevia. (Or a little Sugar - maybe up to a teaspoon)
1 Lime — thin wedges
Crushed Roasted Peanuts (optional)
Preparation:
Moisten surface of beef with a little Soy Sauce (This helps the pepper stick a little better.) Rub coarsely and freshly ground black pepper on both sides of your lean cut of beef. Allow meat to warm up to almost room temp before grilling. This will allow the meat to more evenly cook. Grill beef quickly over high heat until quite rare (or perhaps medium rare for the faint of heart). Perhaps as little as 3 or 4 minutes per side for a 1 1/2” steak.
Allow beef to rest at room temp for 1/2 hour or so, then refrigerate until totally cold - about two more hours (or overnight). When cold, trim off any fat and slice across the grain in very thin slices and then into bite-size lengths - maybe 2” long. Toss the beef with a mixture of the chopped cilantro, chopped basil, sliced shallots and the finely minced jalapeño.
Prepare the dressing comprised of the minced garlic, Fish Sauce, Stevia, and lime juice - mix well. Taste by dipping a piece of lettuce into the sauce. If it is too tart, add a tiny bit more Stevia powder. If it is too sweet, add more Fish Sauce. Taste again. Pour this dressing over the sliced meat and toss to coat.
Cover a large platter with Romaine leaves. Arrange the tomatoes around the outside, overlapping the slices, Arrange very thin seeded cucumber slices inside the tomatoes.
Remove the meat from the dressing and mound in the center of the platter. Pour any dressing that remains over and around the meat. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled to meld the flavors, at least 1 hr. but no more than 2 hrs. - or the lettuce will wilt. Before serving, sprinkle with fresh black pepper and crushed roasted peanuts (optional), and garnish with lime wedges.
Pull out a lettuce leaf, arrange some beef on it, roll it up and eat it or move some of everything to your plate, freshen with a squeeze of lime juice and eat it like a salad.
Some cooks will toss the shallots(or red onion), cucumber and tomato slices with the beef and simply place that mixture on the lettuce leaves.