Ingredients
Units
Scale
- For the Beef:
- scant 1 tablespoon Thai oyster sauce (TFD endorses only Megachef brand)
- 1 tsp. dark sweet Thai soy sauce
- 1 tsp. Red Boat 50 fish sauce
- 1 very large garlic clove (grated)
- Equal amount of ginger to garlic (grated)
- 1 lb. NY Strip steak (no more than 1-inch thick)
- freshly-grated white pepper (to taste)
- ***
- The Hirshon Nam Jim Jaew:
- Scant 1/2 oz. glutinous rice
- 1 Kaffir lime leaf
- 2 Tbsp. Red Boat 50 fish sauce
- 1 1/2 Tbsp. light (regular) soy sauce
- 3/4 tsp. "Red cap" Maggi Seasoning Sauce
- 2 Tbsp. fresh lime juice
- 1 tsp. fresh Meyer lemon juice or unseasoned rice vinegar (to mellow the regular lime juice)
- 1 Tbsp. finely chopped cilantro stems
- 1 Tbsp. chopped white and light green part of scallion
- 1 Tbsp. minced shallot
- 1 Tbsp. tamarind paste
- 1 Tbsp. palm sugar
- 2 tsp. Urfa Biber chili flakes or to make your own more flavorful ones - follow the alternate direction in instructions
Instructions
- For the Nam Jim Jaew: toast glutinous rice in a dry skillet over medium heat. Shake or toss the pan constantly to brown the rice evenly. Add a kaffir lime leaf in the last 30 seconds or so of browning. When the rice is golden brown, transfer it to a mortar with the lime leaf and grind it into a coarse powder using a pestle. You can also use a spice grinder, but let the rice cool first and be careful not to grind it too finely.
- If making your own roasted chili flakes instead of using Urfa Biber, grab a handful of Puya chiles.
Snap off the stems, dropping the chile into a 10-inch skillet, this is about 20 chiles. Heat the skillet over high heat until hot, stirring all the time. When the chiles have puffed up and are lightly fragrant – they’ll darken slightly, lower the heat to low. - Slowly toast for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring and flipping occasionally, until dark like espresso all over and very brittle feeling. Cool off heat. Discard all the seeds that have fallen out because they’re bitter.
Grind the chiles with their internal seeds in a spice to the texture of Kosher salt or Korean gochu garu chile flakes. - Combine with all remaining ingredients except glutinous rice powder. Measure 2 teaspoons of your toasted rice powder and stir the Nam Jim Jaew together until the sugar has dissolved.
- For the beef: Mix oyster sauce, Thai dark sweet soy sauce, fish sauce, garlic, and ginger together in a small bowl and then slather all over the steak. Let this marinate for at least 30 minutes. If you marinate for longer in the refrigerator, take it out of the fridge 30 minutes before cooking to bring it to room temperature.
- Heat a grill pan or cast iron skillet over medium heat until hot but not scorching. If you are using a grill, lay the steak diagonally on the grill at the 10 o’clock. Let this cook until you have grill marks (~1 ½ minutes). Turn the steak to the 2 o’clock position without flipping it over and press down on any parts that aren’t making contact with the pan.
- Continue cooking the steak for another minute until it has developed a crosshatched grill pattern. Flip the steak and then repeat the grilling process at 2 o’clock and then turn it to 10 o’clock. Lower the heat to prevent burning if the steak starts browning too quickly. Grilling a 1-inch thick steak to medium rare will take about 5 minutes.
- When the Crying Tiger Steak is cooked to your liking, transfer it to a cutting board and let it rest for 10 minutes before slicing it. Slice the steak as thinly as possible against the grain using a sharp knife.
- Grind white pepper on the sliced steak to taste, then sprinkle with some extra toasted rice powder.
- Serve your Crying Tiger Beef with vegetables (like cucumber or cabbage) and the Nam Jim Jaew sauce.