The ONLY hard part about this lovely easy dish is finding fresh green peppercorns - I get them from my local Thai supermarket but I haven't seen them in the usual supermarkets.
This is a shame and a reason I haven't posted this recipe before because I really try to ensure you don't need any specialist ingredients to make my recipes.
This one, I'm afraid you do ... HOWEVER, they do seem to be pretty much readily available to buy online (at least here in the UK).
Although, to be honest, if you can't get them - then just make it without them! Yes it's going to have a bit of a different flavour, but I've made it a few times and it's still a good dish in its own right.
I made this just with one steak, for myself, for lunch.
I've made it before though using an incredible piece of beef fillet for a friend's party - with pro-rata'd up marinade of course.
Don't worry too much about the exact quantities of ingredients - to be honest it all tastes good!
But what I did today, for my lunch was to take (in addition to a steak - your choice of cut and size):
1 clove garlic, squashed with the flat of a knife
Some of the stalks chopped off near the bottom of a bunch of coriander, plus a few coriander leaves (plus another handful to garnish before serving)
A couple of sprigs - maybe 2 teaspoons-worth - of fresh green peppercorns
2 teaspoons fish sauce
2 teaspoons light soy sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
Oh, and I made a sauce to spoon over the cooked steak too and THAT was simply made with:
The juice of one lime
1 teaspoon sugar (or 1/2 teaspoon sugar + 1 teaspoon sweet chilli sauce)
1 teaspoon fish sauce
1/2 teaspoon dried chilli flakes
So first, put the garlic clove plus the chopped coriander stalks and a few leaves into a mortar and pound to a sort of paste/gloop with the pestle.
Stir in the peppercorns, fish sauce and soy sauce and then keep stirring in the sugar so it dissolves.
Rub the mixture over the steak and leave to marinade for half an hour or so.
Make the sauce by combining the lime juice, sugar, fish sauce and chilli flakes and stir to dissolve the sugar. If I'd had some sweet chilli sauce (must make some!) I'd have added a teaspoon of that too but only used 1/2 teaspoon of sugar.
If you're going to have it with rice, make the rice now so it's ready to go.
I wanted a lighter lunch so just prepped some vegetables which I quickly stir-fried after the steak and cooked and while it was resting.
When the steak's finished marinating cook it to your liking on a grill or griddle then rest it for a few minutes. I scooped up all the green peppercorns that had fallen down into the dips in the griddle and added to the steak (of course!).
Slice and serve with rice or vegetables and spoon over some of the sauce.
Sprinkle some coriander leaves over it all to garnish.
