Title: Yum Nua (Fiery Thai Grilled Beef Salad)
Yield: 4 Servings

Ingredients :

1/3 cup chicken stock
2 x green onions, coarsely chopped, including some green tops
1/4 cup finely chopped shallot
handful of fresh cilantro leaves, coarsely chopped
1 tbl Roasted Rice Powder (recipe below)
1 tsp coarsely ground dried red chili
1 tsp sugar
1/4 cup fish sauce (nam pla)
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
3 x leaves lettuce
2 sm cucumbers, peeled and sliced crosswise on the diagonal into thin
ovals
5 x cherry tomatoes, halved lengthwise
handful of fresh mint sprigs

Grilled Beef (recipe below):
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tbl fish sauce
2 tsp sugar
450-500g beef rib-eye or sirloin (with some fat) or lean flank steak

Roasted Rice Powder:
1/4 cup raw sticky rice or any other raw rice

Method :
Grilled Beef:
Combine the soy sauce, fish sauce, and sugar in a glass or ceramic bowl, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the beef and marinate for about 1 hour, turning occasionally. Prepare a very hot fire in a charcoal grill or preheat a gas grill. The coals should be white-hot before you put the meat on and the grill rack should be several inches above the coals, so that the meat will cook slowly enough to remain juicy and not burn. Place the meat on the rack and cook, turning occasionally, until it is pink at the center but dark and moist outside, 5 to 10 minutes. As the meat cooks, fat should drip onto the coals and flare up now and then.

When the meat is ready, transfer it to a serving platter. Slice the meat crosswise into thin slices and transfer the meat and its juices to a plate. Serve hot or warm with the dipping sauce. Thinly slice the cooked beef crosswise into 2-inch strips and set aside.

Assembly:
In a wok/small saucepan, bring the chicken stock to a gentle boil over medium heat. Add the beef and warm it in the stock for 1 minute, turning occasionally. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside. Add the green onions, shallot, cilantro, rice powder, chili, sugar, fish sauce, and lime juice to the beef. Toss well. Taste the dressing and adjust it to your liking with additional fish sauce, lime juice, sugar, or chilies. Arrange the lettuce leaves on a serving platter. With a slotted spoon, transfer the beef to the platter, mounding it on the lettuce. Drizzle the beef with some additional sauce from the pan and garnish with the cucumber, tomatoes, and mint. Serve as soon as possible, warm or at room temperature.
Serves 4.


Roasted Rice Powder:
1/4 cup raw sticky rice or any other raw rice
In a small skillet over high heat, dry-fry the raw rice grains until they are a wheaty golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Shake the pan back and forth frequently to turn the grains and color them evenly. Remove from the heat and set aside. When the rice is cool, transfer to a jar, seal tightly, and keep at room temperature until needed.
To use in recipes, transfer the roasted rice to a heavy mortar and pound with a pestle to a fine, sandy powder, or grind in a spice grinder.
Yields 1/4 cup powder.