Thai Beef Salad

There is a Thai restaurant called Land Thai Kitchen near my apartment that makes a phenomenal Thai Beef Salad.  Their salad combines grilled skirt steak, watercress, green apple, dried chili, toasted rice, and lime juice.  We didn't have any skirt steak, but we did have top sirloin.  And we had everything else I needed to make a riff on the recipe.  So I decided to go ahead and use the top sirloin.  I would probably use skirt steak if making this recipe again in the future, and I might modify the recipe to cook the skirt steak whole, rather than slicing it up thinly before searing it.  But the top sirloin was far too thick to cook it enough in the center by just searing up the outsides.  I wanted the steak to remain medium-rare in the center as much as possible.  Anyway, the salad was really nice.  Fresh flavors from the herbs, a little sweetness from the apples and the lime, a little heat and a lot of different flavor and textures.  The roasted rice powder gives the salad a little nuttiness and adds an interesting texture.  But my favorite components are the shallots, the apple, the mint, and the watercress.  Each of the ingredients is so different from each of the other ingredients, both texturally and in terms of flavor. 

Recipe under the jump!

Thai Beef Salad

INGREDIENTS:

2 tbsp grapeseed oil (plus additional if needed)

1 1/2 lbs. top sirloin, thinly sliced against the grain (if helps to do this when the steak is still a little frozen)

2 shallots, thinly sliced

2 scallions, white and green parts, thinly sliced on the bias

7 tbsp lime juice

5 tbsp fish sauce

1-1 1/2 tbsp sugar

4-6 Thai chilis, thinly sliced

2 tbsp Roasted Rice Powder (recipe below)

1/2 cup fresh mint, thinly sliced

2 tbsp fresh cilantro, finely chopped

1/2 cup Granny Smith apple, julienned

2 bunches watercress, rinsed and leaves removed from woody stems

1 English cucumber, thinly sliced on the bias

Heat a cast iron pan or wok over high heat.  Add 1 tbsp grapeseed oil.  Quickly sear sliced beef in batches.  As beef cooks, remove it from the pan and add to a large mixing bowl with the shallots.  Add scallions to the bowl.

Mix together lime juice, fish sauce, sugar and Thai chilis in a separate non-reactive mixing bowl.  Season to taste with additional lime juice, fish sauce, or sugar.  You want the dressing to be simultaneously pungent, sweet, and slightly sour.  Add dressing to beef mixture.  Toss to combine.  Add roasted rice powder, mint, cilantro and apple.  Toss thoroughly to combine.  

Place watercress and cucumber slices on the bottom of a large serving platter.  Top with salad mixture and drizzle with dressing.

Serve.

Roasted Rice Powder

INGREDIENTS:
1/4 cup uncooked jasmine rice

Heat a skillet over medium-low or medium heat.  Add rice.  Roast the rice, stirring regularly, until the begin to turn golden brown and start to smell really nutty, about 10 minutes.  Remove from heat and allow to cool.  Once rice has cooled for about 5-10 minutes, grind to the desired consistency in a spice grinder or in a mortar and pestle.