Following our recent trip to Andy Ricker’s Pok Pok restaurant in Portland I just had to try to make one of his signature dishes, Papaya Pok Pok, a spicy salad built around green (unripe) papaya and a spicy dressing featuring Thai Bird chiles, lime and fish sauce (with an all-important assist from dried tiny shrimp). For my version I added grilled (or, more accurately, sous-vide to grilled) beef…essentially conflating the dish with a Thai Beef Salad.
Considering that my daughter declared it her favorite dinner I’d ever made her…I’ll forgive myself the inauthentic touches.
Serves 4
Ingredients
For the Grilled Beef:
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¼ cup Asian fish sauce 2 teaspoons freshly ground pepper
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¼ cup minced fresh lemongrass (from 2 stalks)
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4 steaks (Bavette, Baseball, Culotte or New York)
For the Papaya Salad:
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6 medium dried shrimp
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One 1 1/2-pound green papaya
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2 small Thai Bird chiles, coarsely chopped
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1 large garlic clove, halved
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1/3 cup tablespoons light brown sugar
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¼ pound green beans, halved crosswise (or long beans cut in segments), blanched
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3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
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2 tablespoons Asian fish sauce
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1 dozen cherry tomatoes, halved
For the Garnish:
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Thai Basil leaves
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1/3 cup coarsely chopped roasted, salted peanuts, lightly crushed
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Marinate the Steak. In a large glass baking dish, mix the soy sauce with the pepper and 2 tablespoons of the lemongrass. Add the flank steak and turn to coat. Let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.
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Sous Vide the Steak. Place each sandwich in a food grade plastic bag. To each bag add 2 tablespoons of soy sauce and approximately 2 teaspoons of sesame oil. Vacuum seal each bag. Using a sous-vide machine, waterbath or a pot of water and a thermometer, bring the waterbath to 131° Fahrenheit. Cook the steaks for one hour at that temperature. This step and step 6 can be replaced by simply grilling the steaks — either stove-top on a grill pan — or outside on an electric, propane or charcoal grill. Either approach is perfectly acceptable (though I believe that the combination of sous-vide and grilling produces an optimal result).
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Rehydrate the Shrimp. In a small bowl, cover the dried shrimp with hot water. Let stand for 5 minutes, then drain. Cut the shrimp into thirds. Alternatively, use double the number of small dried shrimp.
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Prepare the Papaya. Using a serrated knife, halve the papaya crosswise and peel the skin. Scrape out the seeds. Using a mandoline, julienne the flesh (you should have about 6 cups).
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Make the Dressing. In a large mortar, pound the chiles to a coarse paste with the garlic. Add the sugar and shrimp and pound until blended. Add the green beans and lightly pound them. Pour in the lime juice and fish sauce and stir to dissolve the sugar.
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“Grill” the Steaks. Remove the steaks from the sous-vide and from their bags. Heat a heavy grill pan over high flame and sear the steaks on both sides until they have nicely caramelized, about 2 minutes per side. Remove the steaks from the pan and allow them to rest. Slice the steaks cross-wise.
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Make the Salad. In a large bowl, combine the dressing and the tomatoes, lightly pounding them. Add the papaya and peanuts and toss well to thoroughly combine.
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Plate the Dish. Put a small mound of the salad in the middle of the plate. Arrange the steak slices around the salad. Garnish with the basil leaves.
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