Bright, balanced Thai grilled-beef salad will be a summer favorite
1. Heat paprika and cayenne in an 8-inch skillet over medium heat; cook, shaking the pan, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Transfer to a small bowl. Return the now-empty skillet to medium-high heat, add rice, and toast, stirring frequently, until deep golden brown, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a second small bowl and cool for 5 minutes. Grind rice with a spice grinder, mini food processor or mortar and pestle until it resembles fine meal, 10 to 30 seconds (you should have about 1 tablespoon rice powder).
2. Whisk 5. Slice
Recipe notes: Don’t skip the toasted rice. It’s integral to the texture and flavor of the dish. If a fresh Thai chile is unavailable, substitute half of a serrano chile.
Thailand’s famous grilled-beef salad, known as nam tok, is far more than just a steak salad. Served warm or at room temperature, it features slices of deeply charred steak tossed with thinly tossed shallots and handfuls of torn mint and cilantro in a bright, bracing dressing. The cuisine’s five signature flavor elements — hot, sour, salty, sweet and bitter — work in balance, making for a light but satisfying dish that’s traditionally served with steamed jasmine rice.
After testing a handful of cuts, we decided flank steak was the best choice for our version of this dish. After a few minutes over a modified two-level fire, this uniformly shaped, moderately priced cut was beefy and juicy, and it sliced neatly.
The name nam tok (literally “water falling”) refers to the beads of moisture that form on the surface of the steak as it cooks — an age-old Thai cookery clue that the meat is ready to be flipped. While this method sounded imprecise, we found it to be a surprisingly accurate gauge of when the flank steak is halfway done. Here’s why: As this steak’s interior gets hotter, its tightly packed fibers contract and release some of their interior moisture, which the fire’s heat then pushes to the meat’s surface. When turned at this point and cooked for an equal amount of time on the second side, the steak emerged deeply charred on the outside and medium-rare within.
For the dressing, we used a base of fish sauce, lime juice, sugar and water, and then added a Thai chile and a mix of toasted cayenne and paprika, which added earthy, fruity red pepper flavor. We also made our own toasted rice powder, a traditional ingredient in Thai grilled-beef salad recipes.
As for the vegetable components, we chose ones that complemented — but didn’t compete with — the grilled beef: the requisite mint and cilantro, plus a thin-sliced cucumber, which contributed a cool crispness.