Tiger Cries Salad (a Spicy Thai Beef Salad)

"A fabulous summer meal, marinade the meat and make the dressing the night before then throw dinner together FAST. Excellent for casual dinner parties and dieters. I've had this mouth-watering salad at a couple of different Thai restaurants, I was unable to find a recipe so I combined several to make my own. This salad is very spicy yet the bursts of freshness from the lime and mint make it a celebration for the taste buds. It's extremely addictive and very healthy, no oil!"
 
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photo by ThaiSnob photo by ThaiSnob
photo by ThaiSnob
photo by ThaiSnob photo by ThaiSnob
Ready In:
1hr
Ingredients:
21
Serves:
4
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ingredients

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directions

  • prepare a batch of thai sticky rice (aka thai sweet rice) to serve with this salad.
  • note: if you're in a hurry or on a budget, you can leave out the scallions, cuke, tomatoes,& lemon and this salad will retain it's signature flavor.
  • Marinade: Mix ingredients in a ziploc and let meat marinade from 2-24 hours in liquid.
  • Char grill or broil meat to med rare, about 3-4 minutes per side.
  • Let rest at least 10 minutes then slice VERY thin (1/4" or less) against the grain.
  • *Usevery good quality meat for this dish, you want it to be fork-tender and melt-in-your-mouth!
  • Dressing: Mix all dressing ingredients together 1+ hours before serving salad.
  • (Be sure to taste and make any necessary adjustments…dressing should be SPICY, Sour, Salty and a just a wee bit Sweet in that order) You may want to make extra dressing to spoon over the sticky rice.
  • Salad: Pour half of dressing over the red onions, lemon and cuke in a LARGE salad bowl and let them absorb the flavor, 15+ minutes.
  • Add lettuce, tomatoes, scallions and MINT along with the rest of the dressing.
  • Toss the salad until all ingredients are very well coated and mixed.
  • Dish Salad onto plates and top with slices of cooked beef, make sure plenty of dressing is included in each serving.
  • Add a serving of sticky rice to each plate.
  • Serving Suggestion: Very pretty to serve this salad on a bed of Purple Cabbage Leaves.
  • Perfect Sticky Rice: Soak 1-2 pounds of Thai Sweet Rice in lukewarm water in a large bowl for 3 hours- drain& reserve water to use in steaming.
  • Line bottom of bamboo steamer (the stackable sort used for veggies and such) with parchment paper (or cheesecloth sprayed with Pam).
  • Fill steamer with soaked rice and cover.
  • Pour rice soaking water into wok or dutch oven, add some fresh water until approx 3" depth.
  • Place steamer over water in pan, bring water to boil then reduce to strong simmer-- don't let water cook away.
  • Steam rice for approx 25 minutes, let sit an additional 5 minutes with lid on.
  • To Make Toasted Rice Powder: Toast raw sweet rice in a saute pan on top of stove just as you would sesame seeds-- until very light golden brown.
  • Use a coffee grinder, blender or food processor to grind to a fine consistency- I like mine fine as white sugar but any testure from cous cous, cornmeal, flour, etc is just fine.
  • Adds an interesting, nutty and essential flavor to the dressing.

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Reviews

  1. This was really good. (Before I rate this any farther, I will just state that the recipe tells you how to make rice powder. I walked around the grocery store for an hour before I realized that!) I did everything according to the recipe except to leave out the red onion as my husband does not like onions. I ground the rice and the lemon pepper in my coffee grinder. This salad has a wonderful tang and spice that is truly addicting and it makes me very happy that this is such a healthy recipe.
     
  2. I've made this recipe twice now and loved it both times. It makes for a great steak marinade, and the salad dressing is delicious. I did make my own toasted rice powder the first time around because I didn't have it on hand. The second time I used store bought. Yum!
     
  3. Excellent salad. I made this using left over NY BBQ'd steak. I made dressing and salad as written and added sprouts. Wonderful for a hot summer day.
     
  4. This was an amazing dish. My family loves Thai food and this salad tasted just like the ones we order in the resturants!!! I make it with fresh spring rolls and a dipping sauce. It is the best summer meal and so healthy!!! Thanks so much for posting!
     
  5. Followed the recipe for the most part except that my flank steak was already cooked. I had some leftovers, very rare, and I sliced them up very thinly, made the marinade as it appears, and put the already cooked slices in the marinade for about one hour. I then followed the rest of the recipe and when I was ready for the beef, I broiled the sliced meat in the marinade under a hot broiler for about 5 minutes until the meat was sizzling and the garlic was just beginning to turn brown. I ran out of lime juice for the dressing so I used half lime juice and half lemon juice with great results. Couldn't find palm sugar(what the heck is it anyway! and where do you get it???) so just used regular white sugar. I also didn't have serrano peppers, but had home grown which are so much hotter that I only used one and it was scorching hot!!!!! Used the lemongrass concentrate from the tube purchased in the produce aisle which another review had used and was pleasantly surprised. Also, last but not least, didn't do the rice powder as I had never heard of it before and couldn't find it at two major markets. Didn't miss it at all!!! Instead of the lemon slices, I used grated lemon peel from one whole lemon which I think added something extra. My cucumber wasn't fresh so I didn't use that either. Even with all those changes, we really enjoyed this salad. Exactly what we pay for at our local Thai restaurant and we thought this was even better. Next time will try it with shrimp!!
     
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Tweaks

  1. Followed the recipe for the most part except that my flank steak was already cooked. I had some leftovers, very rare, and I sliced them up very thinly, made the marinade as it appears, and put the already cooked slices in the marinade for about one hour. I then followed the rest of the recipe and when I was ready for the beef, I broiled the sliced meat in the marinade under a hot broiler for about 5 minutes until the meat was sizzling and the garlic was just beginning to turn brown. I ran out of lime juice for the dressing so I used half lime juice and half lemon juice with great results. Couldn't find palm sugar(what the heck is it anyway! and where do you get it???) so just used regular white sugar. I also didn't have serrano peppers, but had home grown which are so much hotter that I only used one and it was scorching hot!!!!! Used the lemongrass concentrate from the tube purchased in the produce aisle which another review had used and was pleasantly surprised. Also, last but not least, didn't do the rice powder as I had never heard of it before and couldn't find it at two major markets. Didn't miss it at all!!! Instead of the lemon slices, I used grated lemon peel from one whole lemon which I think added something extra. My cucumber wasn't fresh so I didn't use that either. Even with all those changes, we really enjoyed this salad. Exactly what we pay for at our local Thai restaurant and we thought this was even better. Next time will try it with shrimp!!
     

RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

That's right, I'm a Thai food snob. It's my favorite cuisine and I love to collect new Thai recipes and try new Thai restaurants (we have over a hundred in the Portland area). I'm always trying to perfect my favorite dishes and I'm always on the lookout for new faves & new Thai cookbooks. I take Thai cooking classes when I can. Summer Rolls, Tom Kha Gai Soup, Evil Jungle Prince, Chicken Satays and Tiger Cries Salad are my specialties. I was introduced to Thai food by my sister while she was living in Hawaii in the 80's...thank goodness for that neighbor whose heavenly Thai cooking smells wafted in thru the kitchen window! We both LOVE Keo's restaurant in Honolulu and we also love Keo's cookbook.
 
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