Thai Suea Rong Hai

“Suea Rong Hai” ( เสือร้องไห้ ) or “Crying Tiger” in English is a very popular Thai street food dish. There are many stories and tales about why the dish is named this way, about why the tiger must cry. My favorite is that the sauce is so spicy that even a tiger would cry when tasting it. Or perhaps they’re tears of joy? In any case, to help dry the tears, this dish is served with raw vegetables and herbs. In my case, there were just a few green lettuce leaves and some cucumber slices.

Preparation

First, prepare the marinade for the steak. Crush the white pepper and coarse sea salt in a mortar and mix the powder with the fish sauce and soy sauce. Then pierce the beef steak several times with a fork and marinate for at least one hour.

In the meantime, prepare the dipping sauce. Squeeze the lime and mix its juice with fish sauce and some water. Peel the shallot, cut it into thin rings, and add them to the sauce. Then cut the spring onions into thin rings and add them to the sauce as well. Do the same with the Thai chilies. Of course, the more chilies you add, the more the tiger will cry later. Finally, stir in the toasted rice powder and sugar until both are dissolved.

Once the meat has marinated long enough, it can be grilled or pan-fried. No matter how you prepare it, the meat should still be quite pink on the inside. It’s best to cook it the way you prefer your steak.

Now wash the lettuce leaves briefly and arrange them on a flat plate. Slice the sirloin steak thinly and arrange it on the lettuce. Peel the cucumber with a vegetable peeler, slice it, and arrange it on the plate as well. Serve immediately with the spicy sauce.

Enjoy crying, you tiger!