Darlings, it's been SUCH AN UPHILL battle for La Diva and her dieting...two pounds off, one pound on, three pounds on, four pounds on...... YIKES! Ah well, what can be expected when one drinks her own weight in wine and cocktails each week? Sigh...
So in spite of the setbacks, the weekly salad selections as refreshing and light summer dinners continues and La Diva is back on track! As you well know, La Diva loves Asian food so decided to head to Southeast Asia for added inspiration and also to offer me some caloric restraint without sacrificing taste!
I've loved Thai food since the first time I tried it in Chicago in the early '80's. That's when La Diva had her first Pad Thai noodle and would add extra dried chili, torturing myself, and with tears in my eyes, would quench my burning tongue by greedily slurping up creamy Thai iced coffee! Ahhh, dee-lite-ful!
Then when I moved to Sydney in 1993, I was living so close to Southeast Asia and Thai food was so prevalent, that I was able to eat very authentic Thai food about four times a week (and therefore cementing my love affair with it!)
Then when I moved to Sydney in 1993, I was living so close to Southeast Asia and Thai food was so prevalent, that I was able to eat very authentic Thai food about four times a week (and therefore cementing my love affair with it!)
Kaffir limes don't look anything at all like Persian limes with their bumpy skins! Although the skin and juice are utilized, it's actually the leaf of the kaffir lime that is used predominately in Southeast Asian cuisine. Click here for more kaffir lime info.Today, I'd like to explore La Diva's take on Thai beef salad.....but first, let's talk about what ingredients will give you that authentic "Thai" taste! (Cuz, honey, slappin' a bit of sweet chilie sauce on some grilled beef don't make no Thai beef salad!)
To me, Thai food encompasses these flavor profiles: sour, sweet and savory. That profile can easily be achieved if you use a combination of ingredients that will give your Asian dishes that genuine Thai taste. Once you master the flavor profile of Thai cooking, there will be no stopping you!
Kaffir lime leaves and lemongrass flavors dominate many Thai dishes!Here are some ingredients commonly used in Thai cooking and I've offered links with more information to help familiarize you with them:
- lemongrass
- fresh ginger root
- cilantro aka coriander leaves
- kaffir lime leaves
- palm sugar
- tamarind
- Thai chilies
- siracha chili sauce
- coconut milk
- fish sauce or Nam Pla
- fresh basil or Thai basil
- red curry paste
- green curry paste
Kaffir lime: These shiny double leaves are prized in Thai cooking.With the exception of the kaffir lime leaves, all of these ingredients are pretty easy to obtain at your local grocery in the Asian food section. Tamarind is also used in a lot of Latin cooking so you may find that ingredient in Latin grocery stores as well. If you don't have an Asian grocery, you may buy these ingredients online but try to get FRESH kaffir lime leaves and not DRIED as there is a huge difference in flavor.
Let's get started! (C'mon now, don't be scared to try something new!!!)
La Diva's Spicy Thai Beef Salad
1-2 lb. piece of flank steak
2 T red curry paste
1/4 c coconut milk
2 T fish sauce
3 T palm sugar (can substitute brown sugar)
4 fresh kaffir lime leaves cut into very fine slivers (I use scissors. When I mean "fine" I mean about a millimeter in width!)
One day before, mix all ingredients together for marinade and pour over steak and seal in a zip lock bag, refrigerate, turn a few times if you remember. Take out the next day, scrape off excess marinade and heat up grill. Grill meat until medium rare and allow to rest for 10 minutes. Set aside.
La Diva's Thai lime dressing :
Squeeze juice of one small lime
2 T canola oil
1-2 T white wine vinegar
1 T brown sugar or palm sugar*
1 T fish sauce
1/2 t siracha chili sauce
1 T minced cilantro
Place all ingredients into a jar and shake until sugar is dissolved and all ingredients are well mixed. Set aside.
*palm sugar generally comes in a hard cake so you have to grate it before you can use it!
This salad is packed with flavor and Thai goodness! Clickety-click on the photo to check it out!Puttin' it together:
On two large salad plates put
- a layer of greens
- shredded carrots
- finely sliced red onions
- fresh snow peas cut on a bias into bite-sized pieces
- red, yellow or orange pepper slices
- finely sliced cucumber rounds
Fan out layers of the steak and dress the salad. Top with chopped peanuts and eat!!
Result: Wow! This is one of La Diva's most favorite and flavorful salads. The meat is divine as the kaffir lime adds such an aromatic citrus flavor, the coconut milk is less prevalent yet combines with the curry paste to give that authentic Thai taste. DON'T BE TEMPTED to omit the fish sauce, that is one of the main flavor components that give Thai food that very real depth of flavor.
If you are a "texture" person like La Diva, you'll love all the crunch and zest of this satiating salad! เพลิน (enjoy!)cooking class, cocktails, parties, cocktail party, Miami, coral gables, events, bartending class, cocktail class, Laura Lafata, Miami Beach, miami cooking classes, bachelorette parties, bachelorette party
*sigh* Such a pretty post. I'm a vegetarian, but think I can make the switch to something non-beefy fairly easily (I eat fish.)
ReplyDeleteI'm back on the salads myself and this is soooo much better than the "bag o'salad" I buy for lunch.
You are so sweet, Boxer. Actually, we eat vegetarian quite often as I like to lighten it up. If I eat just salad for dinner though I like to have a heartier protein for the big fella.
ReplyDeleteIf you are a vegetarian that eats fish, I would suggest you could make this same salad with a heartier fish like swordfish, tuna or even mahi mahi. Heck, you could even do calamari, shrimp or octopus.
If you are not sick of the tempeh, tofu thing, you could try marinating and grilling firm tofu. It's all about the Thai flavors!
I think this would work really well with firm tofu grilled with the nice lime dressing and peanuts! YUM!
This sounds great, the only downside is I have to wait until next week to try it.
ReplyDeleteI think I would add fresh and light to the Thai flavor profiles which is why I enjoy that and Vietnamese food a bit more than the many incarnations of Chinese food here in the US. That and I'm a limeaholic.
ReplyDeleteFunny, when you were talking about cutting up the lime leaves I flashed onto the new invention for the TV hucksters, The Culinary Shredder. Straight cut for tiny strips and cross cut for minced. Who needs knife skills when you've got the Kitchen Shredder. (Please no staples or twist ties)
Me too (being a lime-a-holic!) After living so close to Asia where I've had REAL Asian food, it's so hard to eat the Americanized Chinese food here in South Florida! Lemon chicken and sweet and sour pork here equates to fried chicken with lemon pie filling and pork chunks fried in a doughnut batter with bright red cherry pie sauce! haha!
ReplyDeleteAre you familiar with the kaffir lime leaf? Great flavor!
I like the idea of culinary shredder, can we get a meat attachment?! LOL!
I am loving your blog!
ReplyDelete