A-Z Food Challenge: T is for Thailand

After the delicious, heavy coconut buns of Samoa yesterday, I was in the mood for something simple and light today. And Thailand's cuisine usually ticks that box when it comes to their meals - they're often fresh, fragrant and quick.

Since I had plans for the evening, I decided to make Nam Tok, a grilled beef salad with toasted rice for lunch (it was the toasted rice dressing that was the clincher, really). It was super quick and easy to make, although I did make a substitution to suit what was in my fridge (so alas, no mint but coriander instead) and I had to pan fry my beef since I don't have a grill. The mint and a slightly smoky grilled piece of beef would've made this a stand-out dish but it was still pretty good.

I also had a spare medallion of beef, so I decided to give this Spicy Beef Jerky recipe a try. I love beef jerky, particularly when spiced with Asian flavours and thinly sliced. My results turned out okay, but it's definitely a recipe to tweak - I think my slices of beef were too thin, and I think the oven was too hot and the drying time too long to dry the beef at the exact depth to make the most of the flavours and still leave the jerky succulent. A challenge for next time...

Monday is U, and our tastebuds are going to the good ol' US of A for a bit of comfort food.