thai beef & noodle salad

This fresh salad, known as Yum Nua (ยำเนื้อ), is wonderfully versatile and pairs beautifully with whatever noodles you love. Feel free to adjust the ingredients to suit your taste. Cooking should be enjoyable, intuitive, and guided by your senses.

While I share my approach here, I usually cook more intuitively rather than sticking closely to traditional recipes, so feel free to treat this as a flexible guide and adapt it to your own taste.

---

ingredients:

serves 2

beef :

• 300 g flank steak

• 2 tbsp sesame oil

• 1 garlic clove, thinly sliced

• green onion, thinly sliced

dressing:

• 10 g ginger

• 30 g shallot

• 3 g garlic

• 1 handful mint leaves

• 1 handful coriander leaves

• 5 g green onion

• 35 g soy sauce

• 15 g fish sauce

• 20 g brown sugar (melted with a bit of water, then cooled)

• 30 g lime juice

• 16 g rice vinegar

• chili, to taste

• salt, to taste

salad :

• 200 g rice noodles of your choice

• 6–8 cherry tomatoes, halved

• 2 carrots, grated

• 1/2 cucumber, thinly sliced

• 1 handful chopped peanuts

• thinly sliced green onion, mint, and coriander

instructions:

marinate the beef

• Combine the flank steak with sesame oil, garlic, and green onion. Let it marinate for at least 30 minutes, or up to 24 hours for deeper flavor.

prepare the dressing

• In a small pot, gently heat the brown sugar with a splash of water until fully dissolved. Set aside and allow it to cool completely.

• Add the ginger, shallot, garlic, herbs, green onion, chili, and salt to a food processor and blend until well combined. Alternatively, you can finely chop everything by hand for a more rustic texture.

• In a bowl, whisk together the soy sauce, fish sauce, cooled brown sugar syrup, lime juice, and rice vinegar. Add the blended herb mixture and stir until fully combined. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed.

cook the noodles

• Prepare the rice noodles according to the package instructions, as some may require soaking rather than boiling.

• Drain, rinse under cold water, and set aside.

cook the beef

• Heat a pan over medium-high heat and sear the marinated steak to your preferred doneness. Let it rest for a few minutes, then slice thinly against the grain.

assemble the salad

• In a large bowl, toss the noodles with a couple of tablespoons of the herb mixture dressing until well combined.

• Top with cherry tomatoes, carrots, cucumber, fresh herbs, and the sliced beef.

• Pour over the dressing (reserving a little on the side in case you’d like to add more later).

• Finish with chopped peanuts and extra herbs. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed.

*For the full experience, pair it with: The Sun - Myd