I saw Ellie Krieger on the Food Network make this Thai Beef Salad, so I gave it a try. The marinade is really good! I think I like it better then the Thai Beef Salad recipe I posted up a while ago (which is a lemongrass and soy sauce marinade). In this recipe, I also like how you reserve some of the marinade for the dressing.

* I didn’t have ginger or red curry paste/chili garlic sauce. It was fine without it *

Ingredients:
1 pound top-round London broil or flank steak, about 1 to 1 1/2-inches thick
3 tablespoons lime juice, divided
3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
3 tablespoons canola oil
2 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 1/2 teaspoons minced ginger (optional)
1 1/4 teaspoons red curry paste or chili-garlic sauce (optional)
1/2 head red-leaf lettuce, torn (about 6 cups)
3 shallots, thinly sliced (about 1/2 cup), divided, for garnish
1/2 cup cilantro leaves, rinsed and dried
1 cup basil leaves, sliced into ribbon

Directions:
1. Rinse and pat the meat dry. Place in a sealable plastic bag or small glass dish. In a medium bowl combine 1 tablespoon of the lime juice, soy sauce, canola oil, brown sugar, garlic, ginger and red curry paste. Pour half the mixture into the bag with the meat. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons lime juice to the bag. Seal tightly, and marinate meat in refrigerator at least 4 hours or overnight, turning occasionally. Reserve the rest of the mixture refrigerated, to dress the salad.

2. Spray grill or grill pan with cooking spray and preheat. Grill steak until medium-rare, about 5 minutes per side, depending on desired doneness. Let rest until room temperature then slice thinly against the grain.

3. Combine lettuce, sliced shallot, cilantro, basil and beef in a salad bowl, reserving a few shallots for garnish. Add the reserved dressing and toss to coat. Divide salad among 4 plates and garnish with reserved sliced shallots.

This was a very easy dish to make. Sun loves to BBQ so he cooked the meat to perfection. We love meat, but we’ve been eating too much of it lately. So this was a nice, healthy, balanced meal. Very filling and we didn’t have to cook a lot of meat for this dish.

The best fish sauce brand has the light pink label with 3 crabs. I can only find this brand at Viet Wah.

Beef marinade (optional):
You don’t need to marinate the beef, you can just salt & pepper it to flavor a little bit, but this is my favorite and quick marinade that I use all the time. Recipe here.

Dressing:
Tip — use 2-parts water to 1-part fish sauce!
- 2 large cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tbsp water
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 1/2 tbsp fresh squeezed lime juice (you can use lemon if you have it)
- 1/2 tbsp sugar

Other Ingredients:
I liked this Organics Mixed Salad. It’s basically your regular mixed salad but with arugula, cilantro, spinach, etc. It’s good stuff! Also feel free to add any extra greens to it, I’ve added broccoli, asparagus and scallops to the salad and it’s yummy.
- Mixed Salad
- Cilantro, chopped
- Mint, chopped
- Basil, chopped
- Asparagus (optional)
- Scallops (optional)

Directions:
1. Grill marinated meat, or broil until medium rare. Slice into thin pieces.

2. For sauce –
- In sauce pan, add water and sugar over medium heat to dissolve sugar completely. Turn off heat and let cool.
- Add fish sauce and lime – taste as you add the lime to see how much you need (if fish sauce or lime is too strong, dilute it with a tad bit of water and/or sugar).
- Add minced garlic, 1 chopped thai chili, some of the chopped herbs.

3. If you want to add asparagus or scallops (or anything really), prepare it how you like it and add it to the salad. Toss all greens in a mixing bowl, add a little bit of the dressing and toss.

4. Slice beef in thin slices and add to the top of the salad, add a bit more dressing and enjoy!