Thai Marinated Beef with Mixed Greens and Mango Salad

Ever since I got the cookbook 'Travels with Thai Food' by the authors of 'Spirit House,' I've been wanting to try new combinations and recipes (Thanks Ms. P!) I rarely cook by the book, but when entering unchartered territory, such as this, it's really handy to have such a comprehensive guide (and such lovely pictures).  After pouring over the book with A one night, we settled on this recipe for dinner and I went on the hunt for the grocery list.

The beef can be a fillet or any other decent quality beef. But it should be marinated a day in advance if possible. The marinade calls for: lemongrass (bruised and chopped), a large chilli, coriander, kaffir lime leaves, lime juice from one lime, galangal, ginger, sesame oil, sugar, and fish sauce. I cheat a little because I have a pre-made Thai paste that has most of the aforementioned ingredients. I would love to have lemongrass and galangal fresh, but I just wouldn't use it fast enough- and I hate to waste anything. (Lemongrass freezes just fine- though I don't have a freezer). I just added some lime juice, the oil and fish sauce and covered the beef and set it in the refrigerator.

The salad called for a variety of things that can only be found at the asian markets. Luckily, there are several in Hakaniemi and they are very close together. As it calls for a green and a ripe mango, coriander, mint and basil, watercress, garlic and lime, quite a few fresh ingredients were needed. I used Thai mint basil, rather than buy mint and basil separately (those cross breeds come in handy!) 

Watercress is a perky little green bunched into uneven sprigs, highly aromatic (though I can't quite put a finger on the scent, but it just reminds me of an Asian restaurant). I roughly pulled the leaves from the bulkier stems and put them in a strainer for a rinsing. I wasn't too meticulous however about some stems left on, as I felt this gave the base of the salad some nice crunchy bulk.

Green and ripe mango

Thai mint basil

I was a little shocked to find such a large pit in the mangoes. For some reason, I remembered more flesh. The green mango was especially hard, but it made it easier to peel and julienne. After all the greens had been torn and washed and tossed, I added the mango strips. 

 A made the tamarind dressing by chopping a few cloves of garlic, a large red chili, and a teaspoon of sugar and crushing them in a pestle and mortar, adding a tablespoond of fish sauce, 2 tablespoons of lime juice, a tablespoon of tamarind and a splash of water. Since this is rather spicy at the end, a little goes a long way, but it's definitely worth the effort.

I loved this meal, it was light and had such a variety of tastes mixed together. It might take some accustoming to the uninitiated, but basil/mint/coriander/lemongrass/spicy.....yummmm.