Warm Beef Salad with Thai Dressing

A free day on the schedule at last, and I've done some shopping, some Xmas preparations, and made a nice salad for dinner. And blobbed on the couch with teh internets for a reasonable time.

The shopping was highly successful - I now have some decent wet weather pants and a new motorcycle helmet, and the house is well stocked with cherries and mangoes and assorted sandwich makings and random Xmassy ingredients that I'm sure I'll think of some use for. Glace fruit and raisins and pistachios and cranberries. Bound to be useful.

And I am getting a new icecream maker! My old one had a freezer disc that went in the bottom of the bowl, but the disc started leaking. Anti-freeze flavoured icecream seems like a Bad Idea, so that's off to the bin - it's ten years old; no replacement parts seem to be available any more. Oh well. I'm getting an attachment for the KitchenAid, and the shop said they'd have it by Wednesday. And then they rang me to say they'd found one in the back room! I'll go get it tomorrow. Clotilde's chocolate sorbet is calling to me...


This isn't a proper thai beef salad, but it shares the basic flavours.

Recipe: Warm Beef Salad with Thai Dressing
Thai Dressing
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon grated palm sugar
1/2 teaspoon chilli flakes

Salad
4 cups mixed lettuce
1 large tomato
1/2 lebanese cucumber
3 spring onions
1/4 cup chopped coriander leaves (1/2 bunch)
4 tablespoons chopped mint leaves (1/4 bunch)

Extras
1/4 cup mixed roasted nuts
1 bunch asparagus (8 medium stalks)
2 lean steaks (150-200g each)

Mix all dressing ingredients well. Taste and adjust flavours as desired.
Toss all salad ingredients in a bowl.
Heat grill, cook asparagus for 2 minutes, and then cook steak to required done-ness. Rare is best! Slice thinly.
When all is ready, assemble salad: toss through dressing, then top with steak slices, asparagus and nuts.
Serves 2 as a main meal salad.

Notes: Of course this is more of a concept than a recipe to be followed exactly. Use your favourite salad vegetables and extras. Proportions are flexible. You must have mint, coriander and onion - but spanish onion or shallots will do. Some thai basil would be a nice addition. The dressing is likewise important - it's a very strong flavour base, with a mix of sweet, sour, salt and hot. But if you have no palm sugar, then jaggery or dark brown sugar will do; and fresh chilli is good to use instead of flakes.