Grilled Rib Eye With Jaew, Butter Lettuce & Asian Herbs

Ingredient

300–350g rib eye steak, bone in
1 tbs Red Island extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt flakes for seasoning
1 butter lettuce, leaves picked
½ bunch Vietnamese mint, leaves picked
½ bunch coriander, leaves picked
½ bunch Thai basil, leaves picked

Jaew
1 handful large dried red chillies
½ cup lime juice
3 tbs fish sauce
1 tsp white sugar
1 green shallots, chopped
½ bunch coriander, chopped

Method

The first step is to let the beef come up to room temperature, so take it out of the refrigerator a good couple hours before you cook it especially if you choose a large chunk of meat.

Light your grill or BBQ and let it burn down to ensure you have a nice even heat by the time you are ready to cook. Lightly oil your steak on both sides and season with sea salt.

Jaew
To make the Jaew you will need to lightly toast the small dried chillies in a wok or frypan for a couple of minutes over a low heat till they smell aromatic and roasted, this will give the Jaew a beautiful smokey and fresh flavour, though be careful not to burn as they will turn bitter.

Allow to cool then pound in a motor and pestle or slightly crush is a spice grinder till crunchy not to a fine powder. Combine in a small mixing bowl with the lime juice, fish sauce, sugar, chopped green shallot and coriander and mix well, you will have to balance the dressing with more fish sauce or sugar it should taste hot, sour, salty and slightly sweet once you can master balancing this dressing you will be able to balance even the most complex flavours so keep practising.

Cook the Rib Eye on the grill till medium rare and allow to rest for 20min.

Slice the beef off the bone and cut the meat into slices, arrange back onto a serving plate along with the butter lettuce, herbs and Jaew. This dish will go great as the meat component of a shared meal or banquet

Enjoy it with steamed jasmine or sticky rice.

Recipe by Louis Tikaram