Firecracker Steak & Crunchy Salad
 
Knowing I had a night to cook for myself, I got a ribeye steak I’ve had in the freezer for a couple of weeks out to defrost in the morning. I was a little disappointed with the first one of the pack I got, (I cooked it plain in a griddle pan and it wasn’t as tender as I like my steak), so I thought I’d try and 1) Liven it up a bit and 2) Tenderise it a bit more. I really like the way that some Far Eastern restaurants serve sliced, marinated meat, so I thought I’d try and replicate that. Firecracker Steak & Crunchy Salad (serves 1): 1 ribeye steak For the marinade: 2 tbsp soy sauce 2 tbsp teriyaki sauce 1cm chopped root ginger 1 birds-eye chilli, finely chopped 1 garlic clove, finely chopped 1 tbps sesame oil 1 tsp palm sugar (or jaggery) For the salad: 6 Little Gem lettuce cups Half a carrot 2 inches of cucumber 4 tbsp sesame oil 1 tbsp rice vinegar 1 tbsp lime juice splash of fish sauce (nam pla) 1 tsp palm sugar Put all the marinade ingredients in a bowl with the steak, stir and the leave to marinade for at least 30 mins. Mix the oil, vinegar, lime juice, fish sauce and palm sugar until the sugar’s dissolved. Chop the carrot and cucumber into matchsticks and put into the dressing. Cook the marinaded steak on a high heat in a frying pan for 2-3 mins on each side, remove and slice into strips. Put the lettuce cups on a plate and place some of the carrot & cucumber in the cups. Place a slice of the steak on top, then garnish with sliced spring onion and fresh chilli (if you’re a spice head). Spoon some of the marinade over each cup. I really liked the steak and the marinading tenderised the meat really well. The marinade also tasted good, although the dressing for the salad wasn’t boosted much by the lime nor the fish sauce, so these should probably be left out. I did start to use a potato peeler to get really thin slices of carrot & cucumber, but got bored of that quickly, so chopped them into matchsticks instead. I also think a sprinkling of chopped peanuts over the top would have added extra taste and texture, so will try this next time.
Firecracker Steak & Crunchy Salad
Wednesday, 2 April 2008