Thai Beef Salad Recipe

What the vast majority of Bangladeshi people refer to as “salad” is very different from what you think of as salad. Salad in Bengali cuisine is not a separate dish, it is complementary with biriyani, or khichuri. And in most cases, this deshi salad is just a few pieces of chopped cucumber, tomato, green chilli, lemon, and onion.

If you go to any regular biriyani house, or restaurant and ask for salad, a few pieces of chopped vegetables is what you will get. This deshi salad is fully complementary, and you can get as much as you want for free. Because a few extra pieces of chopped cucumber is not something a cook will charge you for.

I am not a fan of having salad with biriyani. To me this plain salad feels like road bumps on a smooth highway that is biriyani. But everyone in Bangladesh will serve chopped cucumber and lemon, so you can understand that I am the exception. People enjoy the refreshing taste of the freshly chopped vegetables with their rich food.

But deshi salad is not always just chopped vegetables, some cooks add dressing to make it more delectable. Yogurt and spices are the more popular ingredients used for dressing, so the salad turns more into a raita-like dish.

Some cooks use different dressings like kasundi. While others mix the chopped vegetable with salt, herbs, and maybe vinegar. But you can imagine that these deshi salads are very different from what you expect.

But Moni Dadi’s Thai Beef Salad is the ideal asian salad. The ingredients used give it the taste of a true thai salad with a zingy, and fresh flavor.

The use of fresh ingredients is what differentiates Asian salads from western salads. While asian salads typically use fresh herbs and spices, western salads prefer mayo, cream, cheese or such as dressing.

The chopped coriander, lettuce, lemon juice as dressing give the unique flavor of the Thai Beef Salad. This dressing along with the steak gives the salad a fresh flavor. And that makes it perfect as a summer steak salad.

Fish sauce is also another key ingredient for thai cuisine. It is something I learned while making Moni Dadi’s Thai Fried Rice recipe. And unsurprisingly it is also present in today’s thai beef salad recipe.

And today I learned that there are 4 types of Thai Salads based on their preparation methods. These salads are known as yam, tam, lap and phla. Thai Beef Salad is of the first type, yam – which literally means “mix.”

Thai beef Salad or Yum Nua as it is known locally is a mix of grilled steak with dressing of fresh herbs. I wonder if Moni dadi knew the local name, but she sure knew how to make thai beef salad or Yum Nua taste authentic.

Moni Dadi did not leave any instructions on what goes with Thai beef salad. You can serve a curry or a noodle dish with the salad. A rice based dish is also an option.

FAQs

What is Thai beef salad made of?

Thai beef salad is made of tenderloin, lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, chilies, coriander, fish sauce, lemon juice, brown sugar, and black pepper

How to marinate beef for Thai beef salad?

Marinate beef with salt and black pepper. 

How to make sauce for Thai beef salad?

Place red chilies, cilantro leaves, lemon juice, sugar, salt, and fish sauce in a food processor. Process for a couple of seconds to make a roughly chopped dressing.