THE NINETIES CALLED. THEY WANT THEIR THAI BEEF SALAD BACK.

They can't have it. We need it.

Grilled Thai beef salad was a hit around the world in the 1990s, and fast became a staple in our suburban Thai restaurants.

Of course it did. What’s not to love about juicy, smoky beef; loads of herbs; the tang and chilli heat of a lime, fish sauce and chilli dressing, and a dusting of ground roasted rice?

I mount the case, your honour, for bringing it back for these rambunctious times, and for making it our own.

You can add anything you like - I adore red shallots in the dressing - but don’t get carried too far away from the basics. It should feel juicy and leafy-green, and taste vigorously tangy, hot, sour and sweet.

And it’s so darn quick! Grill the steak, make the dressing, pick the herbs and toss. If you have time, you can marinate the beef in soy and fish sauce, or leave the grilled beef to rest in the dressing, but I prefer the immediacy of the sizzle/toss/dress/serve approach.

The chilli component is also up to you. Use dried, roasted chilli flakes, or toast and roast your own dried chillies and pound them, or use fresh red or green chillies (my preference, for freshness).

Back in the ’90s, I used to keep recipes like this quite clean and pristine. Now I’m into dirtier, messier food, so I pound the garlic and chilli together roughly before adding the fish sauce and lime juice. I’ll throw in a chopped cherry tomato and even some lime and pound that as well, which makes every mouthful a spicy, bright surprise.

On the surface, Thai grilled beef salad (yam neau/nahm dtok) is all about the beef, but for me, the ground rice is key. The texture is gritty and dusty, which sounds terrible, but it works to soak up the juices, add smokiness, and coat the beef like hundreds and thousands coating biscuits. Toast your own rice (recipe below) or grab a jar of Khun Nan Roasted Glutinous Rice (from Asian food stores), which is big enough to last you until the next Nineties comes along.

Every good recipe for this lovely dish will call for it to be grilled. It HAS to be grilled, preferably outside. Until your barbecue isn’t behaving itself, and you can’t grill inside unless you want to evacuate the building, that is. So I pan-grill the steak in a searingly hot cast-iron pan on a wok-burner attached to said recalcitrant barbie, and get a good crustiness and an interior that colour-matches my Pinot Noir.

A final thought – Thai grilled beef salad doesn’t actually have to be beef.

Make it meat-free by swapping out the steak for wedges of roast pumpkin. You still get all the good things from that feisty dressing, and the sweetness of butternut squash plays off the tang and chilli as if born to it. If cooking this pumpkin version for a vegetarian, swap out the fish sauce for tamarind (e.g. Jeeny's tamarind puree, from major supermarkets), and go forth.

THAI BEEF SALAD, REVISITED

• 350 g marbled steak eg rib eye, scotch fillet

• 1 tbsp fish sauce

• 1 tbsp soy sauce

• 2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped

• 1 small red chilli, finely sliced

• 2 tbsp lime juice

• 2 tbsp fish sauce

• 1 to 2 tsp palm sugar or brown sugar

• 2 red shallots, peeled and finely sliced

• Half cucumber, peeled and sliced

• 6 small or 3 medium tomatoes, halved

• Half cup Thai basil leaves, whole

• Half cup mint leaves, roughly chopped

• Half cup fresh coriander leaves

• 1 tbsp vegetable or olive oil

• Baby cos, broken into leaves

• 1 tsp ground sticky rice

• To serve: baby cos leaves, lime quarters, extra herbs

Coat steak with fish sauce and soy sauce and leave for 30 minutes.

Pound the garlic, fresh chilli and sugar until glumpy.

Stir in lime juice and fish sauce, and toss with shallots, cucumber and tomatoes.

Brush the steak with oil and heat the grill to high.

Grill (or sear in a hot cast-iron pan) on one side until crusty, then turn and cook briefly the other side, and remove.

Rest the beef for 5 minutes, then slice into fingers.

Toss the dressing lightly with basil, mint and coriander leaves.

Layer cos leaves on a serving platter, arrange the beef casually on top, and strew with the dressing and herbs.

Scatter with ground rice and serve with lime quarters. Serves 2 to 3.

# My grill timings are for medium-rare, eg 4 minutes first side, 1 minute other side.

# Serve with rice or rice vermicelli.

# Or serve Thai-style with fresh raw vegetables, e.g. beans, cabbage, lettuce.

# Sometimes, I throw chopped beer nuts on top as well, but it doesn’t need them, if they have already been eaten by somebody.

TO MAKE YOUR OWN GROUND ROASTED RICE

In a dry pan, toast 1 tbsp raw, unwashed, glutinous (sticky) rice - or any white rice, really - over a low heat for 5 or 6 minutes, pushing it around constantly until golden and toasty. Tip out and leave to cool. Once cold, grind in a coffee grinder, or pound in a mortar to a powder.

Thanks for dropping by! And thanks for your comments and suggestions. Special thanks to Terry for doing an emergency dash for fresh limes at the last minute. (Which was only fair because the limes I thought were there, had actually gone into his gin and tonic, but still, appreciated.)

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I would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands and waters upon which I work, live, cook and play; the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. Thank you for sharing your culture, traditions, knowledge, spirit, art, music, humour and food traditions, allowing us all to experience a greater sense of belonging in this ancient land.