Thai Grilled Beef & Spring Herb Salad (Nam Tok)

1. Marinate briefly.

Mix the fish sauce, oyster sauce, brown sugar and pepper. Rub it over the steaks and marinate for 15-30 minutes at room temperature, or up to 2 hours in the fridge.

2. Toast the rice.

Put the raw rice in a small, dry frying pan (a separate pan from the steak) over medium heat. Toast it, shaking often, for 5-7 minutes until deep golden and smelling like popcorn. Cool it slightly, then grind it to a coarse powder with a mortar and pestle or spice grinder.

3. Make the dipping sauce.

In a small bowl, stir the tamarind, fish sauce, lime juice and brown sugar until the sugar dissolves. Stir in the chilli flakes, shallot, coriander and 1 tsp of the rice powder. Set aside.

4. Make the dressing.

In a large mixing bowl, stir the fish sauce, lime juice and palm sugar until the sugar dissolves. Add the chilli flakes. Leave the rice powder until you toss the salad. Prep all the salad herbs and veg and keep them ready.

5. Wipe off the excess marinade.

Lift the steaks out of the marinade and wipe them with paper towel until the surface is almost dry.

The fix: a wet marinade has to boil off before the steak can brown, and that's what turns it grey and steamed. You'll keep the flavour, just not the puddle.

6. Preheat and test the pan.

Put the Steak Pan over high heat, dry, for 3-4 minutes. Flick in a drop of water. It should ball up and skitter across the surface before it evaporates. If it just sits and boils, keep heating.

The fix: a pan that isn't ready is the other half of grey steak.

7. Oil the steak, not the pan.

Brush the steaks all over with the oil.

8. Hot and fast.

Lay the steaks in the pan, leaving space between them. Cook for about 5-6 minutes in total for medium-rare, turning every minute or so so the sugary surface chars evenly without burning. If it's blackening too quickly, turn the heat down to medium. For doneness, a probe in the centre should read about 52-54°C when you take the steak off. It will rise to about 55-57°C (medium-rare) as it rests. Cook it to about 60°C for medium.

9. Rest and slice.

Rest the steaks on a board for 5 minutes. Slice them thinly across the grain and keep the resting juices.

10. Dress it warm, in the bowl.

Add the warm steak slices, resting juices and sliced shallots to the dressing in the mixing bowl and toss. Add the 1 tbsp rice powder, mint, coriander, Thai basil, spring onions, cucumber and sugar snaps (or asparagus ribbons) and toss lightly.

The fix: the lime-based dressing only ever meets the steak in a bowl, never in the pan. Black steel doesn't suit acid, and warm steak soaks up the dressing best.

11. Serve.

Pile the salad onto a platter with the lettuce cups, sticky rice and a bowl of the dipping sauce. Sprinkle over any remaining rice powder.

Tips and make-ahead

• Make ahead: Toast and grind the rice powder up to 2 weeks ahead and keep it in an airtight jar. It freezes well too. Make the dipping sauce and the dressing up to 1 day ahead, without the herbs or rice powder, and keep them in the fridge. Pick and wash the herbs up to 1 day ahead, then dry them well and wrap them in damp paper towel in the fridge.
• Buy it ready-made: Asian grocers sell toasted rice powder if you're short on time.
• Heat level: Nam tok is meant to be spicy. Start with 1 tsp chilli flakes in the dressing and add more at the table.
• Cut choice: Sirloin and rump give the best balance of chew and flavour. Scotch fillet works too.
• Sugar catches: If the pan starts smoking hard, lower the heat and keep turning. Charred is good, but burnt sugar is bitter.
• Pan care: Let the pan cool, then hand wash it with warm water, a brush and very little detergent. Dry it completely, warm it over low heat, then wipe on a thin layer of vegetable oil. No dishwasher.