Description
Recently, I was feeling lazy and I was tempted to throw in the towel and just order take out for dinner. One of our favorite take out restaurants is the Thai restaurant in town. It is so good. They have a great selection of Thai food. Besides the curry, which we love, we normal get Thai marinated skirt steak and Thai fried rice. But as I sat there looking at the menu and thinking about what we would order and how much I would need to order (teenager quantities!), I started to think… nah, maybe I’ll just cook. I recently ordered sushi and it came out to over $100!! And we ate it all! I’m telling you, teenagers eat A LOT!
So, not wanting another $100 check, I mustered the energy and cooked the Filipino bistek my son had been craving. So, skipped the Thai for another Asian cuisine. But, when I started to put together my grocery list, I kept going back to Thai food. The Thai marinated skirt steak is super expensive at this local restaurant… about $20 for probably about half a pound of meat, which means we normally want to get two orders. But, if I could reverse engineer the dish and cook it at home, I could make more and still spend less than I would on take out!
The flavors I associate with Thai food is normally curries. Thai cuisine has fantastic curry dishes. But, I also associate fresh lime juice, fish sauce, and soy sauce with much of their cuisine. Besides their curry, I don’t find much of Thai cuisine as a smack in the face with strong flavors. I find much of their other cuisine to be subtle in flavors… don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying lacking flavor! Just subtle, but still delish! Think pad Thai or pad see ew noodles. Similarly, Thai fried rice is a very subtle fried rice, as compared to, say, Korean fried rice, which we make super spicy and exploding with strong flavors! Thai fried rice is gentler with flavors, which lets you appreciate the flavors of simplicity. And the lime juice in the steak marinade gives the steak a very fresh, light taste.
Both the rice and the marinade call for fish sauce. Don’t be put off by this! Fish sauce smells awful to many people… don’t lean in for a good sniff! But, once you cook with it, the flavor it adds to the dish are phenomenal. The marinade can be made the day before and rest in the refrigerator overnight. Just make sure to pull it out an hour before cooking so that it can come up to room temperature. Skirt steak can sometimes come in one long piece. If that’s the case, just cut it in half before cooking it!
This meal is super simple to make and brings home all the flavors you love of Thai food!
Enjoy!
Ingredients
Thai Skirt Steak
1½ to 2 lbs skirt steak
zest & juice of 2 limes
1” ginger, minced
4 garlic cloves, minced
¼ cup fish sauce
¼ soy sauce
⅓ cup brown sugar
¼ cup olive oil
Spicy Sweet & Sour Sauce
¼ cup dumpling sauce
1 TB sweet chili sauce
½ TB sambal oelek (ground fresh chili paste)
1 TB lime juice
Thai Fried Rice
3 cups cooked white rice
3 eggs, whisked
1 small onion, diced
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 bundle of green onions, chopped
2 TB fish sauce
1 TB oyster sauce
1 TB soy sauce
1 tomato, quarter (optional)
cilantro (optional)
Instructions
Make the marinade. In a medium bowl, whisk together the lime juice and zest, minced ginger, fish sauce, soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic cloves and olive oil. Add the meat and mix until well-coated. Marinate at room temperature for 1 hour.
While the meat marinates, steam the rice. This usually takes about half an hour. When ready, make the fried rice.
Heat the vegetable in a wok over medium heat. When hot, carefully swirl the oil to coat the sides of the wok. Add the onions and spread out. Cook for about 5 minutes, or until just softened. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute.
Move the onions and garlic to one side of the wok. To the other side, add the eggs. Let cook for about 1 minute and then stir constantly, mixing with the onions & garlic, until scrambled. Add the green onions and cook for 1 minute. Add the rice and stir to thoroughly mix with the eggs and onions. Add the fish sauce, oyster sauce, and soy sauce. Stir to combine. Cover with a lid and remove from the heat.
Make the spicy sweet and sour sauce by whisking together the dumpling sauce, sweet chili sauce, sambal oelek, and lime juice in a small bowl.
Meanwhile, heat a cast iron pan over medium heat. Working in batches, if necessary, cook the steak 4 minutes per side. Drizzle some of the marinade over the meat and cook thirty seconds. Remove the meat and set on a cutting board. Cutting against the grain, slice the meat.
Plate the meat and rice. If desired, top the rice with cilantro and tomato. Serve with the spicy sweet and sour sauce.
Enjoy!
Keywords: Thai Fried Rice, Thai Skirt Steak, Thai Flank Steak, Thai Marinated Skirt Steak, Thai Marinated Flank Steak, Fried Rice