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crying tiger

Crying Tiger Beef Recipe (Suea Rong Hai)

Tender, juicy, crazy flavorful pieces of steak dipped into an addictive sauce that is the holy trinity of spicy-tangy-sweet flavor. And only 20 minutes to make.
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Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Course Main Course
Cuisine Thai
Servings 2
Calories 594 kcal

Ingredients
  

Crying Tiger Steak Marinade

  • 1 lb sirloin steak
  • 1 tbsp oyster sauce
  • 1 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp fish sauce
  • 1 tbsp lime juice
  • 1 tbsp minced garlic
  • ½ tbsp brown sugar
  • 1 tsp white pepper

Crying Tiger Dipping Sauce (Nam Jim Jaew)

  • 2 tbsp fish sauce
  • 5.5 tbsp lime juice
  • 2 tbsp tamarind paste
  • 1 tbsp toasted rice powder
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • dried chili flakes or fresh chili, diced or sliced
  • cilantro, shallots, green onions, tomato for garnish and flavor

Instructions
 

Marinade the Crying Tiger Steak

  • Mix together oyster sauce, soy, sauce, fish sauce, lime juice, brown sugar, minced garlic, and white pepper in a bowl.
  • Add the beef and coat to cover in marinade.
  • Let it sit on the counter while you prepare the everything else.

Make Crying Tiger Dipping Sauce

  • Combine fish sauce, lime juice, tamarind paste, toasted rice powder, and honey in a bowl. Add dried chili flakes or sliced fresh chili if you want spice. Add sliced or chopped shallots, green onions, cilantro, tomatoes for extra flavor and garnish.

Make Toasted Rice Powder (If You Need It)

  • Add a handful of dry, uncooked Thai sticky rice on a dry pan. If you don’t have sticky rice, use jasmine or even Japanese glutinous rice.
  • Give the pan a gentle shake so that the rice is dispersed in an even layer and turn the heat to medium-low.
  • Slow toast the dry rice, regularly shaking and tossing the grains so that the grains can toast evenly. Turn the heat down a bit if the rice looks like it's burning.
  • Continue to slowly toast and shake the pan for about 5 to 10 minutes – the grains should turn a nice, golden brown. You can stop here if you’re short on time but I recommend you don’t. Another 10 minutes of gentle toasting will get you a much more intense nutty flavor. If you want that, keep toasting and shaking until the grains are a deeper golden brown and the kitchen smells like popcorn.
  • Transfer the rice to a baking pan to let it cool down to room temperature. You don’t want to grind it straight away as the powder will be sticky. This only take a minute or two.
  • Grind the rice into a coarse powder – not too fine! – using a mortar and pestle, a spice grinder, or a food processor. Pulse so that the powder doesn’t end up too fine a powder.

Sear the Crying Tiger Steak

  • Heat a skillet over medium-high heat for a couple of minutes so that it’s fired up and ready to go.
  • Sear the crying tiger steak to the level of doneness that you like:
    Rare to medium-rare? Just 2 to 3 minutes on each side
    Medium-rare to medium? About 3 to 4 minutes on each side
    Medium to well-done? Around 4 to 5 minutes on each side
  • Let it rest for 5 minutes while you slice and dice some cucumber and wash some lettuce.

Slice and Serve

  • Slice the crying tiger steak, plate with the cucumber and lettuce, add rice, serve and enjoy!

Notes

What beef to use? Crying tiger was traditionally made with brisket. But you can use ribeye, sirloin, fillet steak (aka tenderloin), filet mignon or even a good flank (aka bavette). Use the cut of steak you like. 
Substitutes for the dipping sauce? Every ingredient in the crying tiger dipping sauce is important and I don't recommend substitutions. If you need a vegan substitute for the fish sauce, go with equal parts soy sauce and rice vinegar.
The only parts that are totally customizable are honey and chili flakes. Sweetener was not traditionally used so you can choose to skip it altogether. If you like it a little sweet, feel free to substitute honey for palm sugar, coconut sugar, brown sugar, white sugar, or even agave. 
Ditto for the chili flakes. I never add any to my kid's dipping sauce. For my own, dried chili flakes - Thai chili, crushed red pepper flakes, Korean gochugaru, and even Aleppo pepper has been delicious. Dicing or slicing fresh peppers is great as well. 
Most crucial tips for success? Even a little marinade time really ups the flavor or the beef and leaving it on the counter while it marinates to bring it closer to room temperature will help it cook more evenly. 
Oh, and always remember to preheat the pan so it's hot enough to sear the steak as soon as you put it on.