Thai Salad Swings Both Ways

This particular evening, I was in the mood for Thai Beef Salad. But my eldest daughter is a vegetarian – I knew she wouldn’t eat it. So I decided to make two versions of the salad – one for the Carnivores (with beef), and one for her (with tofu). As it turns out, we all loved the tofu, Carnivores and Veggies alike. So the meat eaters mixed some of the tofu into our salads along with the beef. Luckily, this still left enough tofu for my Daughter the Veggie to take some salad to school for lunch the next day. And it tasted just great.

Thai Salad Both Ways

One of my all-time favorite recipes is the Thai Beef Salad from the Frog Commissary Cookbook. The Commissary was Steven Poses’ cafeteria-style gourmet restaurant cum wine bar/bakery that, along with its upscale companion The Frog, led the Philadelphia Restaurant Renaissance in the 1970’s. Some wonderful restaurants opened in those years in Philly, and put the town on the map forever as an amazing place to dine out. The Frog, Astral Plane, The Aspen Café, Judy’s, The Blue Moon, The White Dog, Jack’s Firehouse – Mr. TBTAM and I have fond memories of many wonderful meals at these great restaurants, some of which are still around today. (Not to mention Le Bec Fin…)

The Frog Commissary Cookbook features Poses signature dishes from his two vanguard restaurants. It is one of those cookbooks of mine whose pages are stained and torn, whose cover has long since come off its bindings, and whose recipes I return to again and again. The recipes are an eclectic mix of East and West with great appetizers, dinners, soups and amazing desserts and party food. The carrot cake recipe alone is a national classic. Poses designed all the recipes in an apartment kitchen, not a professional kitchen, and every dish is worth making.

The original recipe calls for already-cooked beef, so I’ve modified the recipe to include how I cook the beef and tofu for this salad. I didn’t have scallions, so I used red onion. My daughters ate up the cucumber before I could add it to the salad, and the bean sprouts were not fresh enough at the market, so you don’t see them in the photo. Otherwise the recipe is the same as the original.

Spicy Peanut Dressing
½ cup unseasoned rice wine vinegar
1/3 cup corn oil
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
¾ tsp minced garlic
½ tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 ¼ tsp soy sauce
1 ¾ tsp Thai hot sauce or Tabasco
1 ¼ tsp minced fresh ginger
2 tbsp lime juice
1/3 cup coarsely chopped salted roasted peanuts

Whisk together all ingredients (except the peanuts). Refrigerate. Add ¼ cup peanuts to the dressing just before mixing with salad. Reserve the rest to sprinkle on top (see below).

Beef or Tofu
1 ½ pound sirloin beef (don’t slice it till after you cook it) or 1 block tofu (cut into 1 x ¼ inch strips before you cook it)
Peanut or vegetable oil
2 tbsp Salt
1 tbsp pepper
1 tsp ground fennel (I wanted to add some ground star anise, but didn’t have any)

Combine salt, pepper and fennel.

Beef: Rinse beef and pat dry. Rub in a little oil, and the spice rub. Heat 1 tbsp oil in saute pan till hot over med-high heat, then add beef and cook, about 8 mins. per side, till rare. Remove to cool a bit, and cut into 1 ½ x ¼ inch strips.

Tofu: Sprinkle spice rub over tofu slices. Heat 2-3 tbsp oil over medium high heat. Add tofu, and saute, turning once after about 4-5 minutes. Cook till nice and crispy on both sides. Remove to drain on paper towels.

Salad
2 medium-large cucumbers, peeled, seeded, and sliced into ¼ inch thick crescents (about 2 ½ cups)
¼ pounds snow peas, semmed, blanched 20 seconds
½ pound bean sprouts
1 ¾ cup julienned red peppers (about 2 medium)
2 cups finely slice red cabbage
1 cup thinly slices scallions (I used red onion)
Romaine leaves
½ cup chopped salted roasted peanuts

For the beef salad: Just before serving, combine the beef, the cucumbers, snow peas, bean sprouts, peppers, cabbage and scallions with the dressing. Plate the romaine. Arrange the salad ingredients atop. Sprinkle with the remaining peanuts. Serve.

For the tofu salad: Just before serving, place the tofu on a flat plate or low bowl and pour a little of the dressing on top to flavor them. Combine the cucumbers, snow peas, bean sprouts, peppers, cabbage and scallions with the rest of the dressing. Plate the romaine. Arrange the salad ingredients atop, tofu slices last. Sprinkle with the remaining peanuts. Serve.