Crying Tiger Tacos
Thai spiced beef, salsa and toppings wrapped in a coconut tortilla
Servings
4Servings
Servings
4Servings
Ingredients
For the skirt steak
  • 600grams skirt steak
  • 9grams fine sea salt(Eeqivalent to 1.5% by weight of beef)
  • 2cloves garlic(about 8 grams)
  • 3large coriander roots(about 8 grams – see notes)
  • 1/2teaspoon white or black peppercorns
  • 1teaspoon fish sauce
  • 1teaspoon oyster sauce
  • 1/2 teaspoon soy sauce
For the jaew salsa
  • 2 long red chillies(about 40 grams)
  • 2cloves garlic(about 8 grams)
  • 1large tomato(diced – about 140 grams)
  • 2tablespoons chopped coriander
  • 1medium shallot(finely sliced – about 50 grams)
  • 2teaspoons fish sauce
  • 1tablespoon lime juice
  • 1teaspoon toasted rice powder(see notes)
  • 1/2teaspoon dried chilli powder
  • 1 teaspoon palm sugar or brown sugar
Coconut Tortillas
  • 300grams plain flour
  • 52grams coconut oil
  • 158mililitres cold water
  • 1/2teaspoon fine sea salt
Instructions
To marinate the beef
  1. In a mortar and pestle, break up the peppercorns then add the coriander roots and bash them up a little. Add the garlic and salt and continue to bash till it becomes a smooth paste. Mix in the soy, oyster and fish sauce, and rub well all over the steak.
  2. Leave the steak to marinate for at least a couple of hours, overnight if possible. I put mine onto a wire rack and marinate overnight in the fridge, leaving it uncovered so it dries out a bit and forms a nice crust when cooking.
  3. While the steak is marinating, make the jaew salsa…
For the jaew salsa
  1. On a barbecue or under the grill on high heat, roast the chillies and garlic until charred. Leave to cool, then peel and deseed the chillies and peel the garlic. Chop both finely.
  2. Combine the roasted chili and garlic with the remaining ingredients and refrigerate until ready to use.
To make the tortillas
  1. Place flour, salt and coconut oil in a food processor and pulse a few times till everything comes together like fine breadcrumbs. Tip into a bowl and add the water while stirring to form a rough dough, then turn out onto a work surface and knead for 2 – 3 minutes till smooth. Cover the dough and leave to rest for 30 minutes.
  2. After resting, divide the dough into 12 pieces, roll into balls, dust with flour, cover and leave to rest for a further 5 – 10 minutes.
  3. Roll each ball of dough into a circle about 7 inches in diameter, and then cook on each side for about 20 seconds or until browned on both sides.
  4. Place on a plate and cover with a tea towel and repeat till all tortillas are cooked.
Cooking the steak and taco assembly
  1. When you’re ready to cook the steak, preheat a large frying pan or barbecue to high. Cook for 10 minutes, flipping every couple of minutes to ensure even cooking, till the steak is well-browned. You’re looking to cook the steak to a nice medium – any more and it can be a bit tough, just due to the type of cut it is. Cover with foil and leave to rest for 5 minutes, then slice thinly across the grain (you may first need to slice it into two halves along the grain depending on how wide a piece you have).
  2. To serve, take a tortilla, smear over some sour cream and top with cucumber slivers, beef, salsa, coriander and peanuts. Wrap and eat!
Recipe Notes

If you can’t get coriander roots, substitute an equal weight of coriander stems – the roots have a deeper, earthier flavour than the stems, but stems will be fine.

To make toasted rice powder, place raw, uncooked  glutinous rice in a dry pan over medium heat and toast until golden grown, stirring or moving the pan to prevent burning. Leave the rice to cool, then grind to a powder using a spice grinder or mortar and pestle.