Thai Inspired Beef Salad

Holy shit, it’s been a really long time since I’ve posted. What better way to come back to the blog (hahahaha, I’m not promising more entries…yet) than a recipe? Exactly.

So, the best Thai food I’ve ever had is in this small shop in South Omaha called Laos Thai Kitchen. Alex’s family has a weekend tradition of going there, every weekend, for all time, and if you’ve ever had it, you’ll know why. It’s a small restaurant in an Asian market, with 2-3 ladies cooking everything. It’s life changing—if you’re in Omaha, it’s a must have spot. The make this Thai Beef Salad that is amazing! What’s amazing about it, is that it has amazing flavors but isn’t kill your mouth spicy. It’s got so much flavor and it’s an amazing lunch / starter. I’ve ordered it at a good Thai restaurant here in KC, Hot Basil Thai, but Hot Basil’s mild put me to tears (I think it’s the dried Thai chili’s they’re using in their recipes). Don’t get me wrong, Hot Basil is delicious, but spicy.

So, it’s been my life’s purpose to try to re-create the salad to make it at home. I love a good salad for a hot summer day and it’s filling enough, with the beef (although, easily could be replaced with tofu, chicken, or shrimp) to not need another course. I looked up some recipes, but in the end, I just winged it. So here you go, how to make the most refreshing summer Thai salad. Also, could easily be made more filling by adding rice noodles or angel hair pasta (or even rice!)

Take stir fry cut beef and marinate in the following. I cook in approximations, so you can alter to taste.

Thai green curry paste (1-2 teaspoons)
½ shallot Lemon grass paste (I found this at Hyvee; if not, fresh lemon grass cut into pieces would do)
Garlic (2 cloves)
Sriracha (to taste)
Fish sauce (maybe 4 tablespoons? Maybe less)
Fresh mint Cilantro
Salt and pepper to taste
Quarter cup of chicken stock
Fresh lime (I didn’t use enough at first; could use a juice of a full lime)

Marinate 24 hours.

Make your salad with (or whatever you prefer):

Romaine Cabbage (green / red)
Fresh Mint
Fresh cilantro
Tomatoes (ours were fresh from our friends Emily/Brandon’s garden)
Green onions
Fresh shallot (could be red onion too, depending on your taste)
More fresh lime
Cucumber

Sauté the beef in a wok. There’s a lot of extra marinade left over, so I took the beef out of the marinade, sautéed in the skillet, and then cooked the marinade over the stove separately to reduce the marinade and cook the sauce.

Then mix. So easy! And the hardest part is the time it takes to cut the veggies. And there’s enough ways to modify this recipe to make it your own. Let me know if you try it. I promise it will be life-changing. Sorry there’s only one picture, but maybe it’s worth 1000 words? Here’s to hopin’.

Let me know if you try it out!

Thai Coconut Soup with Shrimp

Since I have a lot of free time, as of late, I have been trying to find new “hobbies.” Something I have always enjoyed is cooking…and I’ve been doing a crazy amount of it as of late.

This Thai coconut soup is one of my absolute faves. It’s perfect for super cold days and surprisingly easy to make. Is it the most authentic soup ever? Hard to say…but it is delicious! Most importantly, this recipe is easy to make vegetarian; just replace the chicken broth with veggie broth and omit the shrimp (or fry up some tofu, yum!). This is the recipe I modified to make it my own (my edits will be in italics):

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil (or canola oil, whatever is available)
• 2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
• 1 stalk lemongrass, minced (If you’re having difficulty finding this, I can usually easily find lemongrass paste in the section of the grocery store where fresh herbs are kept)
• 2 teaspoons red curry paste (I used green curry paste, because I like the taste better)
• 1 fresh jalapeños for spice (not in original recipe)
• 1 red bell pepper (not in original recipe)
• 1 medium onion
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 3 tablespoons fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon light brown sugar (I didn’t use this)
• 3 (13.5 ounce) cans coconut milk (I only used 2 cans, and I used the lite coconut milk instead)
• 1/2 pound fresh shiitake mushrooms, sliced (I used crimini mushrooms because they’re easily accessible)
• 1 pound medium shrimp – peeled and deveined (I used frozen)
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice (not sure how much this is, but I used the juice of 1 whole lime with extra lime as garnish)
• Salt, to taste
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro (I also used green onion for garnish)
• Sriracha, to taste (not in original recipe)

Heat the vegetable/canola oil in a large pot over medium heat. Cook and stir the ginger, lemongrass, garlic, onion, jalapeño, red bell pepper in the oil. Once they start getting translucent, I added in the curry paste, fish sauce, mushrooms, and the chicken broth to the vegetables and cooked them together. I always add the salt when I add the mushrooms–it makes the liquid come out from them and makes them super delicious (I’m not sure where I heard/read this, but probably from Alton Brown on Good Eats). Add the coconut milk and lime juice. At this point, I bring everything to a boil, and then quickly change the heat setting to Low and let it simmer. At this point, I just let it cook together for about 30-45 mins. It’s a soup and the longer it stews the better the flavor.

Now, the recipe suggests adding the shrimp into the stew 5 minutes before serving to cook, but I prefer to cook the shrimp separately, so that the shrimp doesn’t overcook when we have leftovers, or doesn’t overcook in the pot, as it becomes hard to control cook time once it’s in the pot (and there’s NOTHING worse than overcooked shrimp).  In order to cook the shrimp separately, I take a little bit of the broth and a little butter to sauté the shrimp. Are you using frozen shrimp, like I did? Make sure you defrost it–whether that’s leaving it in the fridge overnight, or running it under cold water. Regardless, after it’s defrosted, make sure to throughly dry the shrimp with a paper towel and insure the shrimps are dry, it helps cook the shrimp evenly and get a little crust. Delish! Most important? Shrimp REALLY doesn’t take more than 1-2 mins per side. They’re small and cook fast, and they’ll still cook a little more in the hot soup anyway. When I store the leftover soup, I keep the shrimp in a separate container and add it to the reheated soup to warm it up. I really dislike overcooked shrimp.

Yum! Look at how fresh these shrimps look! ❤

When the shrimp is cooked and the soup has cooked for 30 or so minutes, time to serve up! Garnish with cilantro, green onions, and lime wedges.

Now, the question you reallllly want to know, is it delicious? Ohhh yes. I’m a sucker for Thai food, and this soup makes me really happy. And it’s one of those soups that’s even better the next day.  So, let me know if you decide to make this soup and if you make any tweaks of your own! Did you try it with the original red curry paste? Let me know, friends!

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thai deliciousness

Tonight I made a wonderful thai noodle dish using onions, mushrooms, grated garlic and ginger, lime juice, thai green curry paste, and whole wheat blend spaghetti. It was delish. Basically, you sauté the onions and grated garlic (4 cloves), and add mushrooms and the juice of half a lime. You put in green curry paste (as much or as little as you want; I don’t think I put in enough) and grate in some ginger. I added some shrimp and sautéed that also, but you can put in chicken or no meat also. I cooked everything toghether and mixed it with the pasta. It was excellent.