Grilled Thai beef salad "larb". This is spicy and fresh; and perfect for a hot summer day!

This fresh grilled beef salad redolent with fresh herbs and the heat of chile is a great quick summer meal. The salad is fresh and delicious, and perfect eating for days when the mercury climbs. Thailand is hot hot hot, and they know how to eat in the heat!

Spicy Thai larb beef salad

• A little more than 1/2 lb of beef. You want a good flavorful cut of meat. Flank or skirt will work well, as will chuck steaks. The meat can be a bit chewy, that's OK, and a common Thai preparation would even use grilled brisket! You could use a more expensive cut, but this salad is more about the flavor than the tenderness, and it just so happens that the cheapest cuts are usually the tastiest!
• About 2 Tbls of fresh mint, sliced
• 5 or 6 shallots, thinly sliced (or about a half a red onion, thinly sliced)
• 3 or 4 green onions sliced
• ½ to 3 Tbls of dried chile. Use as much or as little as you like.
• 2 Tbls of fish sauce
• The juice of 2-3 limes
• 1 Tbls dried rice. This is pretty important. You take some raw rice, and place it into a heavy skillet over medium and dry fry it until it is nutty brown. Place the rice in a spice grinder or small blender attachment, and grind to a powder.

1. Grill the beef until medium rare or medium. Let rest for as long as you cooked it for, and slice thinly across the grain. Mix the beef with the chile, the lime juice and fish sauce, the herbs and onions and the dried rice.
2. Taste and adjust the seasonings to taste. If it’s not salty enough, add more fish sauce, and if it needs more sour (or the fish sauce taste is too strong) add more lime. Add the dried chile to taste.
3. You also can add more herbs to taste if you like.

This is great with rice. Wash this spicy dish down with sweet fruit shakes or cold lager beers.

Don't get scared off by the smell of the fish sauce…it's supposed to smell like that! It will blend in to the dish, and add a great depth of complex flavor, and you won't taste that fishy smell anymore.