My mouth is on fire and not from all the swearing, because there hasn’t been much swearing, or much of anything in March other than relentless insomnia. Post-Jan and my spirits have crashed into a slough of despond. This feels like the slowest month.
But then so did Jan. And then Feb. Guess we are all stuck on rinse and repeat until something changes.
Asides from ‘miso soup Monday’, this recipe is also on repeat each week. I love cooking but menu planning is doing my nut in, so the fact this recipe is still in demand in our household through Covid means it’s a keeper.
It doesn’t take that long to make, once you learn the drill.
Adapted from Luke Nguyen’s, but not by much, the main difference is subbing Nguyen’s fillet for ribeye, pan searing it rare before thinly slicing and then removing any noticeable fat before the final toss. I sub for ribeye because the fat is ironically what you want: not the chunky bits so much when you are done searing, but the marbling through the flesh that compliments the flavours of this tart dish. If you want a super low fat recipe, then beef fillet will suit you better, but those on a keto vibe, or who don’t mind spending extra cals for flavour, ribeye’s the way.
Now comes the heat: I up the chilli content in the sauce, because gotta get your kicks somewhere. Start with 1 bird’s eye chili if you’re not sure – they might be small but they pack a punch.
Serves 2.
Ingredients:
- 1 white kohlrabi
- 1 large carrot
- 1 tbsp. caster sugar
- 1 shot of white wine vinegar
- 2 x ribeye steaks
- 1 tbsp. rapeseed oil
- 1 bunch mint
- 1 bunch coriander
- 1 bunch Thai basil
- 10 small, or 5 banana shallots
- 3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- handful of shelled monkey nuts
- sunflower oil
for the sauce:
- 1 lemon, juice only
- 2 tbsp. caster sugar
- 1 tbsp. fish sauce
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
- 4 bird’s eye chillies, finely chopped
Instructions:
- Make the sauce first: combine all the ingredients in a jar, give a shake and leave to the side till the end
- Julienne the kohlrabi and the carrot into a bowl, add the sugar and vinegar, toss and pop in the fridge for an hour
- Wash the herbs and leave to dry on a cloth, or give them a spin
- Now thinly slice the shallots and deep fry in sunflower oil: you do not need a lot, so use a small pan and after draining, transfer to kitchen towel until needed
- Shell the monkey nuts, roast in a pan and then once cool, roughly crush
- Take the herbs off the stalk, so mostly leaves only and roughly chop
- In a non-stick pan add the rapeseed oil and thin slices of garlic, cook till crispy, remove from oil and leave on kitchen towel
- Add the steaks to the same pan and sear on either side till cooked to your preference: I aim for rare – the citrus in the sauce also helps ‘cook’ the rare meat just as tiger’s milk does
- Let the steak sit for a good few minutes before slicing it across the grain
- Drain the kohlrabi/carrot mix, then toss with the chopped herbs, the beef slices and, most of the crushed nuts and crispy shallots
- Arrange in a sort of pile, adding some more crushed nuts and crispy shallots at the end. Serve with wedges of lime
FU2020 