It’s A Wrap.

It’s been a while since I shared a savoury food recipe. Most of my days in the kitchen is spent working on recipes for sweet baked goods usually because I tend to have the ingredients at hand. As they say, baking is more of a science, and cooking, more of an art.

I don’t count myself a great cook by any means, but I’m proud to say that at the very least, I’ve not burned down our kitchen. I also happen to be quite the lazy cook. The more ingredients I see on a recipe, the more I cannot be bothered to make it. Also, if I happen to have most of the ingredients on the list, then I’m more than game to give it a go.

The other day, Flo mentioned wanting to go for Thai food for dinner. It didn’t quite register with me though as I thought the plan was still up in the air when we spoke of it a couple days earlier. So I simply assumed that we weren’t going after all and I decided to do something sweet for Flo and try my hand at cooking something Thai-inspired.

This recipe for Thai-grilled Steak is really simple and doesn’t require a whole basket of ingredients. Just make sure you get a good cut of steak so that it’ll be nice and tender after being cooked. I didn’t think there was quite enough of a spicy kick though so I might add in an extra piece of Thai bird’s eye chilli into the marinade next time.

The nice thing about making this is you can have the steak in a salad, or stir-fried with vermicelli. You can even cook down the marinade to form a luscious, flavourful gravy that will go perfectly with rice.

I also made a simple recipe of Pickled Carrots for the bit of tart and a bit of sweetness to balance off the heat. So. GOOD!

Thai-Styled Grilled Beef:
200g sirloin steak

20g Fresh Basil
8g Fresh Cilantro
2tsp Minced Garlic
1 Tbs Fish Sauce
1 Lime, Zested and Juiced
1 Bird’s Eye Chilli
1/2 Tbs Brown Sugar
1/4 Cup Sunflower Oil

1. Whizz everything up together (Apart from the steak of course).
2. Pour marinade into a ziplock bag along with the beef and let sit in the fridge for 4 hours or overnight.
3. Remove from fridge about 20min before cooking to allow the steak to reach room temperature.
4. Heat pan on medium heat. Once ready, cook steak to your desired doneness. About 3 minutes on each side for medium rare which is how we usually prefer ours.
5. Remove steak from pan and allow to rest before slicing.

Pickled Carrots
1 Carrot, Julienned
1/4 Cup Rice Vinegar
1/3 Tbs Sugar
1 tsp Salt

1. Put everything together in a bowl and let sit for 30min.
2. Drain liquid from the carrots and you’re ready to go!

As you can see, I made it into a nice big wrap that refused to bundle up nicely so I ended up having to swaddle it in foil like a big, badass baby. Spinach and Rocket leaves, with Cherry Tomatoes, Roasted Onions, Pickled Carrots, Creamy Avocado, Fresh Basil and Cilantro, and of course, Sliced Thai-Grilled Steak. I ended up not having to use any sauce for moisture because the pickled carrots more than made up for the absence.

This was a really substantial dinner and while not authentically Thai, the essence of Thailand was clearly there. And… We did quell Flo’s cravings a few days later when we met up with a couple of his friends and dined at a nice, Thai restaurant that left the taste of garlic in our mouths and the burn of chilli on our lips!