If you have a minor craving for something a bit spicy then this is definitely a dish worth considering! Maybe I should rephrase the last sentence, If you have a craving for Blisteringly Hot, Sour, Salty and slightly Sweet then gather the following ingredients as you are in for a treat.

Weeping or Crying Tiger Beef is a Thai Salad that can brings tears to your eyes, if you have been unwell, like I have over the past couple of weeks and fancy something tasty and healthy then I can highly recommend this dish.

Marinade

• 1 Sirloin Steak per person, the best you can afford
• 2 teaspoons white pepper (I used Muntok from Steenbergs)
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 4 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 2 tablespoons palm sugar
• 8 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Inch Galangal, grated

Put all the ingredients into a dish and let the Steaks marinade for at least 2 hours, you can prepare the Salad dressing etc. whilst waiting for the meat to soak up all the flavours.

Dressing

• 2 tablespoons Sugar
• 1/2 cup fresh Lime Juice
• 3 – 4 tablespoons Fish Sauce (to taste)
• 4 – 6 Shallots, finely sliced
• 4 – 6 Thai Chilis very finely sliced
• 2 stalks Lemongrass, remove outer stalk and slice very thin or grind
• 1 inch Galangal, finely grated

Add all the ingredients to a bowl and set aside for at least an hour, stirring from time to time to ensure the Sugar is completely dissolved.

Salad

• 1 Mango, cut into 1 inch approx. pieces.
• 1 Baby Gem Letture, leaves separated and quartered
• 1 large red Onion, thinly slivered
• 1 bunch Spring Onion, cut to ½ inch lengths at an angle
• 1 handful Bean Sprouts
• 1 Cucumber, peeled & seeded cut in half lengthwise
• 1 small handful French Green Beans, cooked in salted water for 6 minutes and then cooled under running cold water
• 10 – 15 sliced Cherry Tomatoes
• 1 lemon, cut in half lengthwise and very thinly sliced
• 1 Handful Roasted Peanuts, lightly crushed to garnish

Take a bowl and add all the ingredients except the Red Onion, Cucumber and Lemon, which are placed in a separate bowl and sprinkled with half the dressing and put aside for 15 minutes. The French Beans can be cut into 1 inch approx. lengths. I used Peanuts that still had skins on, so they were de-skinned and roasted fresh, and then seasoned with some Maldon Sea Salt and lightly crushed.

Set your oven to 100 degrees and put in a plate to warm up, the Steaks will need to rest once they are cooked for 10 minutes, this stage is important to enable the meat to relax and become meltingly tender.

Cook the Steaks in a frying pan on a high heat for 2-3 minutes each side, you want them rare to medium rare so still slightly red in the middle, once cooked pop into the oven and wait patiently for 10 minutes.

Whilst the meat is relaxing, add the marinated Cucumber, Lemon and Onion mix to the Salad and add the Dressing making sure that everything gets a good coating, then after ten minutes, thinly slice the Beef, lay onto the Salad and sprinkle with the Peanuts.

C’est tout, more of a construction job than cooking but the results are stunning, with HOT, Spicy, Salty, Sour and slightly Sweet it will knock you taste buds into the next century.

You will need to adjust the balance of the flavours as especially Chillis can vary quite a lot, so make sure you taste the dressing to make sure the balance is right.

Special thanks to Vicars Game in Ashampstead, who continue to source the most wonderful Meat, Game and Poultry.

Until next time,

L8ers