Yam Nua (Thai Beef Salad)

Ingredients

• 600 g skirt steak or flank steak, thin-grained, flavourful cut
• For the dressing
• 45 ml fish sauce, 1:1 ratio with lime juice, adjusted for balance
• 45 ml fresh lime juice
• 1 tsp palm sugar, dissolved in the lime juice before combining
• 1 tsp dried chilli flakes
• For the salad
• 1 stalk fresh lemongrass, white stalk only, sliced paper-thin into rings
• 3 shallots, thinly sliced
• 150 g cherry tomatoes, halved
• ½ cucumber, sliced thin on the bias
• 15 g fresh mint leaves
• 15 g fresh coriander

Method

1. 1
   Dissolve the palm sugar in the lime juice, stirring until no granules remain, so the dressing carries a smooth, even sweetness rather than pockets of syrup that will unbalance individual bites. Add the fish sauce and the dried chilli flakes. Taste: the dressing should carry equal weight of sour and salt, with sweetness sitting behind both.
2. 2
   Combine the lemongrass rings, sliced shallots, halved cherry tomatoes, bias-cut cucumber, mint, and coriander in a wide bowl. The lemongrass rings must be genuinely paper-thin — cut them coarse and they will be fibrous and inedible raw, no matter how long the salad sits.
3. 3
   Grill the skirt or flank steak over direct, high heat to medium-rare, so the exterior builds a firm, dark char while the interior stays pink and yielding. Remove from the grill and rest briefly — no more than 5 minutes — so the juices redistribute without the meat cooling entirely.
4. 4
   Slice the beef across the grain into 3 mm slices while still warm, because cutting with the grain produces long, chewy ribbons that trap dressing rather than absorbing it. Test: the sliced beef should feel warm — not hot, not cold — to the back of the hand; warm signals the muscle fibres are open and ready to receive the dressing, while cold means they have closed and the dressing will sit on the surface rather than penetrate.
5. 5
   This is where the dish lives or dies. Pour the dressing over the warm sliced beef immediately — within 5 minutes of the beef leaving the grill — turning the slices to coat every surface, so the warmth draws the fish sauce and lime juice into each slice as it finishes resting; dressed cold, the dressing remains on the surface and the balance collapses. The slices should glisten and smell of lime, char, and fish sauce simultaneously.
6. 6
   Tip the dressed beef and all its accumulated dressing over the salad base and toss once to combine. Taste for balance: the final plate should feel clean, bright, and simultaneously substantial — the Maillard depth of the beef against the acid brightness of the dressing, with the lemongrass providing sharp aromatic freshness and the chilli a clean background heat.