Eva Pau’s Asian Cookbook
Eva Pau
Published by Murdoch Books, £22.00, murdochbooks.co.uk
Photo Credit: © Tara Fisher 2026
How to Make this Thai Beef Salad
Eva Pau's Asian Cookbook is a must for fans of Asian flavours and simple cooking. Here, Eva tells us how to make a Thai beef salad for summer
To call this a salad is maybe a little bit of a stretch, but stay with me - it's really, really good. It has noodles, cucumbers, lettuce, cherry tomatoes and onions, all topped with beautiful slices of seared beef. The dressing is where this salad really comes to life: it's packed with bold Thai flavours including fish sauce, garlic, ginger, lemongrass, chilli and lime. This is a great dish to serve at dinner parties or summer barbecues.
Serves
4
Prep time
20 minutes
Cook time
20 minutes
Ingredients
- 200g vermicelli rice noodles
- 2 thick-cut sirloin steaks
- 2 tbsp neutral oil
- pinch of salt
- 2 garlic cloves, very finely chopped
- 1cm piece of fresh ginger, very finely chopped
- 1 lemongrass stalk, white parts only, very finely sliced
- 1–2 small red bird’s-eye chillies, finely sliced
- 3 tbsp light soy sauce
- 2 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 tbsp soft light brown sugar
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- juice of 1 lime, plus lime wedges to serve
- 1 red onion, finely sliced
- cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1/2 head frisée lettuce (curly endive)
- 1/2 cucumber, deseeded and finely sliced into half-moons
- handful of coriander leaves
- handful of mint leaves
- handful of Thai basil leaves
Method
Cook the vermicelli noodles according to the packet instructions, then drain and set aside.
Place a frying pan over a high heat. Rub the steaks with one tablespoon of the oil and season with a pinch of salt. Cook for three to four minutes on each side until the meat reaches 54C for medium-rare, then remove from the pan and leave to rest.
Add the remaining one tablespoon oil to the same pan and allow it to get very hot. Add the garlic, ginger, lemongrass and chilli. Cook for about a minute, then add the soy sauce, fish sauce, sugar, sesame oil and lime juice, stirring to combine. Now add the red onion, tomatoes and drained vermicelli noodles, swirling the pan around to heat everything through. Remove from the heat.
Arrange the lettuce and cucumber on a serving platter, then spoon the contents of the pan on top, drizzling over any juices left in the pan. Now, very thinly slice the steak and drape it over the veg and noodles. Tear the herbs and sprinkle them over the top. Serve straight away, with some extra lime wedges on the side for squeezing.
TIP
If you’re serving this at a barbecue, prepare all the other ingredients in advance, then gently sear the steaks on the barbecue and assemble.
