Tag Archives: fish sauce

Thai Chili Beef (Neua Pad Prik)

I absolutely love Thai food. Unfortunately, I haven’t had a lot of luck creating Thai dishes at home that have that restaurant quality to them. My Pad See Ew turned out quite decently, but my struggles with other dishes are not to be taken lightly–after at least a dozen attempts at red curry, for example, I’m still not satisfied enough to share my recipe. So I am very happy to say that, held by the hand of the ‘The Best International Recipe’ cookbook by America’s Test Kitchen, I have produced a restaurant quality Chili Beef dish in my own kitchen. And nothing could bring me more pleasure than to pass this recipe along so that you can, too! As with most stir fries, there’s a lot of chopping and mincing up front, because once the burner goes on the actual cook time is very short.

My main modification to this recipe is doubling the sauce, but other than that it’s very close to the original. Let’s go!

Ingredients

For the sauce

4 TBS fish sauce
4 TBS rice vinegar
4 TBS water
2 TBS light brown sugar
2 TBS Thai chili-garlic sauce (Sriracha)

For the marinade

1 TBS fish sauce
1 tsp light brown sugar
3/4 tsp ground coriander
1/8 tsp white pepper

For the stir-fry

2 lbs blade or flank steak
5 cloves garlic, minced
3 TBS vegetable oil
3 Thai, serrano, or jalapeño peppers
4 large shallots
1/2 cup basil
1/2 cup cilantro
1 lime
1/3 cup roasted unsalted peanuts

Here are all the ingredients. A possibly daunting amount–but please don’t be deterred. Forge ahead and realize your Thai dreams.

Mix all the ingredients for the sauce; set aside.

It looks quite humble, but this sauce will soon become my favorite part of the dish.

Also, it will allow you to make friends with this shady character:

The notorious fish sauce. Embrace it! I know I do. Just don’t tell me how it’s made, okay?

Slice the steak crosswise on the bias, and then cut into thin strips about ¼ inch thick. I bought pre-sliced beef because I’ve secretly wanted to for years–and it was on sale!

However, it wasn’t cut thinly enough, so I did a little extra slicing.

Mix the marinade ingredients together . . .

. . . and add it to the beef strips.

Let the meat marinate for at least 10 minutes (or up to an hour).

Now get your knife ready: it’s time to  do all the chopping/mincing. Mince the garlic and mix it with 1 tsp of oil. Set it aside.

Halve the hot peppers . . .

. . . and remove the seeds. I usually scrape them out with a sharp paring knife. Cut them into matchsticks.

If you’re thinking this dish is going to be deathly spicy, don’t worry–removing the seeds takes out most of the heat.

Quarter the shallots lengthwise . . .

. . . and using your fingers, separate the layers.

Set the shallots and chilies aside together in a bowl.

Roughly chop the cilantro (but leave the basil leaves whole unless they’re unusually large–which mine were).

Cut the lime into wedges and lightly chop the peanuts–these garnishes are essential. I shouldn’t even be calling them garnishes. They’re not mere extras; they’re part of the family!

All our prep work is now done. You should have the following items right next to your skillet, ready to go:

Going clockwise from the top left: the beef. Vegetable or peanut oil. A clean bowl to put the cooked beef in. The garlic/oil mixture. The sauce. The chilies and shallots. Check!

A heads up: we’re going to cook the beef in 3 batches. It may sound very time-consuming, but cooking in small batches means the batches cook very very quickly (in literally two and a half minutes per round), plus the beef will get nice and browned instead of steaming and becoming floppy due to overcrowding in the pan.

Alright! Things are about to get hot in here. Heat 2 tsp oil in a 12” cast iron skillet over high heat. When the oil starts shimmering, add 1/3 of the beef strips.

Immediately spread them out in the pan . . .

. . . and don’t touch them for 2 minutes. Seriously–get that spatula away! You’ll see they are cooking very quickly:

Don’t be tempted! Keep your mitts off that meat.

After the full 2 minutes are up, they should be very nicely seared on one side. Stir-fry for 30 seconds, moving them around the pan until they’re cooked through.

Remove the beef to a bowl:

Cook the remaining 2 batches of the beef in the same way.

Are you tempted to cook it all together to save time? Don’t. I’ve made that mistake and it takes the final dish down about 5 notches. Plus, it ends up taking about just as long as the batch method.

Once the meat is all done, add 2 tsp oil to the skillet. When it’s hot and shimmering, add the shallot and red chilies.

Cook for about 3 minutes, stirring frequently, until they’re getting soft and browned. Next up: clear a space in the middle of the skillet and add the garlic/oil mixture.

Press the garlic into the pan with a spatula for about 15 seconds . . .

. . . then mix it into the veggies.

Add the sauce:

Increase the heat to high, and let it reduce and thicken for about 30 seconds, stirring.

Dump in the beef with any accumulated juices, stirring well to get it coated in the sauce.

Stir in half the cilantro and basil and take the skillet off the heat.

Ta-daa!

Gorgeous, ain’t it?

Serve over white rice and garnish with the remaining cilantro and basil, peanuts, and lime wedges.

Serve it on a plate . . .

. . . or in a bowl.

I tried it both ways and whaddya know–it tastes the same!

Seared, flavorful meat . . . crunchy peanuts . . . bright lime juice . . . tender veggies . . .

Which reminds me: please don’t forget to squeeze on the lime. It really adds a lot.

What a triumph of a dish.

Make it, folks! If you love Thai food, jump in no holds barred.

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Caramelized Ginger Salmon

I absolutely love this dish. In fact, it may be my favorite way to eat salmon. It’s my idea of the perfect Valentine’s Day dinner (hello, husband o’ mine? Are you reading this post?). Make it asap, and you’ll understand why I’m floating in clouds of love at the dinner table when this is on the menu.

Ingredients

(Serves 2)

2 salmon fillets (about 1.3 lbs total)

2 TBS peanut oil (or canola)

Salt and pepper

3 TBS brown sugar

1 1/2 TBS minced ginger

2 TBS fish sauce

1 TBS soy sauce

2 TBS dry sherry (or Shaoxing wine)

Dash red pepper flakes

Lime juice from 1/2 lime

1 bunch diced green onions

1/2 c chopped cilantro

White rice, for serving

First, put your rice on–I love my rice cooker, because it allows me to forget about the rice knowing it will turn out perfectly with no help from me.

Now, chop the ginger and assemble the sauce of love: mix the brown sugar, ginger, fish sauce, soy sauce, sherry, and red pepper flakes.

If you’ve never used fish sauce, by now it’s available in most mainstream groceries. It looks like this:

It smells hideous in the bottle and when it first hits the pan . . . but it adds a depth of distinctly Thai flavor that is amazing.

Now it’s time for the fishy part of this business. Aren’t these fillets be-yewtiful??

The time has come to skin the salmon pieces. Warning: you must own a good sharp knife to successfully remove the skin. I come from a long tradition of Henkels users.

The trick is to get the knife started at a corner, and then slip the knife between the skin and the flesh, leaving the fish as intact as you can. If you wield the knife with your right hand, place your left hand flat on the skin–this will help you control the knife so that it stays near the surface.

Extra tip: unless you plan on taking out your garbage immediately, fish related trash will stink up your house in no time at all. I put the packaging and skin in a plastic bag and freeze it until it’s time to take the trash out next.

It’s stinky enough that even the yellow smiley-faced man isn’t pleased.

Now, spread some of the oil all over salmon pieces, then sprinkle on salt and pepper.

Heat the remaining oil in a non-stick skillet. When it’s hot, add the salmon fillets.

Cook over high heat for 1 minute, then flip gently using a sturdy spatula. Don’t be like me and use tongs . . .

Salmon is so delicate it will fall apart if we don’t treat it with tender care. Cook for 1 minute on second side, then add sauce; cook for 3 minutes.

It should start getting nice and bubbly.

While it’s bubbling, I quickly wash and chop my greens: cilantro and green onions in bountiful amounts.

Add the lime juice and turn the fillets to coat them in the sauce. Cook for 2 more minutes, then add the cilantro and green onions, and cook for 1 final minute or until the fish is just done.

The lesson is: you must not overcook the salmon. I will show you photographs to convince you of this in a minute. You have 2 choices: a dried out canned tuna-like piece of fish (no!), or a delicately tender piece of fish that is flaking apart into moist pieces (yes!).

Let’s investigate this beautiful piece of fish . . .

See how the pieces flake off with a mere touch of the chopsticks?

It’s perfect.

Be smart: choose option 2. Don’t overcook your fish.

Not to imply that this recipe isn’t the exact incarnation of all that is good in the world, but if you like a lot of sauce you can consider doubling the sauce recipe.

Serve over rice . . . as if that wasn’t totally obvious from all the pictures. Uh huh.

If you want some more veggies involved in your meal, serve this with a delectable little cucumber side dish a la mode of what my cousin Luke and his wife Kelsey made last year at family vacation. Recipe coming tomorrow.

Click here for printer-friendly version: Caramelized Ginger Salmon