Quick Thai Beef Salad

• Recipe by Chang Mai Thai Cooking School

We love this pungent, tangy salad because it is astonishingly fast to make. Other versions of this recipe require you to marinate and cook the meat, which can take hours; this variation (which appeared in F&W in May 2002) calls for store-bought roast beef instead.

Ingredients

1. 6 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2. 5 tablespoons Asian fish sauce
3. 2 Thai chiles, minced
4. 1 teaspoon sugar
5. 1/2 pound thinly sliced rare beef
6. 5 small scallions, cut into 1-inch lengths
7. 3 medium shallots, thinly sliced
8. 1 medium tomato, halved and sliced
9. 1 cup thinly sliced peeled cucumber
10. 1/2 cup chopped celery leaves

Directions

1. In a large bowl, mix the lime juice, fish sauce, chiles and sugar; stir to dissolve the sugar. Add the beef, scallions, shallots, tomato, cucumber and celery leaves, toss gently and serve.