Thai Nam Tok Recipe (น้ำตกเนื้อ) - Waterfall Beef Salad

Thai nam tok neau (น้ำตกเนื้อ), with translates to beef waterfall salad, is a popular Thai dish of grilled meat (in this case beef), sliced into bite sized pieces, and dressed in fish sauce, lime juice, chili flakes, and lots of herbs. Nam tok (น้ำตก) is an Isaan (northeastern Thai) dish, and is typically eaten with a spread of other dishes and accompanied by sticky rice. Watch the full video of the recipe here.

Author: Mark Wiens (eatingthaifood.com) Recipe type: Thai beef salad Cuisine: Thai Serves: 1 plate

Ingredients For the marinade:

• 500 grams beef (or pork)

• 1 tbsp ground black pepper

• 1.5 tbsp light soy sauce

To make 1 plate of beef salad:

• 250 grams beef (I grilled 500 grams, but only used 250 grams for this recipe below)

• 1 tbsp khao khua (recipe here)

• 2 tbsp fish sauce

• pinch of sugar (this is optional)

• 1 tbsp dry chili flakes (or grind whole Thai dry chilies)

• 1.5 tbsp lime juice (or more to taste)

• 5 small shallots

• 1 green onion stem

• small handful of cilantro

• mint to garnish

Instructions For the grilled beef:

1. Take the beef, or any type of meat you're using, and marinate it in the ground black pepper and soy sauce for about 1 hour.

2. Grill the beef on high heat for around 8 minutes on each side (depending on how thick it is), until the meat is medium rare or medium.

3. Once the beef is finished, set it on a plate to rest for about 5 - 10 minutes, collecting all the meat juice.

4. Slice the beef against the grain into thin bite sized strips.

For the nam tok salad:

1. Note: I marinated and grilled 500 grams of beef, but for this proceeding salad recipe, I only used 250 grams of the cooked beef.

2. Peel the shallots and finely slice them, dice the green onions, and pluck a handful of mint leaves.

3. In a mixing bowl, add 250 grams of the grilled sliced beef, and add the khao khua, fish sauce, sugar, chili flakes, lime juice, shallots, green onions, and mint leaves. Doesn't matter which order, just toss everything together.

4. Mix all the ingredients fully, and then taste test. The meat should be sour, salty and spicy to taste, with a freshness from the herbs. Add more lime juice or fish sauce as needed.

Notes Nam tok neua (น้ำตกเนื้อ) is a delicious Thai dish and wonderful and flavorful way to eat beef steak or pork. This recipe is pretty easy to make, just marinate and grill the beef, slice it, and mix it with the dressing ingredients. This dish is often eaten with sticky rice in Thailand. Enjoy!