By DAVID CLAYTON
Staff Reporter
Amarillo is a wonderful melting pot of different flavors and cultures. One of these staples of Millennials and Gen Z’s alike is Thai Food.
No, I am not going to be doing a review on Pho—at least not in this issue. Sorry ladies and gentlemen. I am going to be discussing another menu item that I wish received more attention: Beef Jerky and Sticky Rice, or Neau Dad Deaw.
The rice is sticky and kind of sweet. The tomato-based sauce is sweet, yet crazy spicy. The fish sauce, alluring and, for sure, a first-date killer. The beef jerky is an enigma.
How can it be crispy like American beef jerky yet tender like a prime steak?
First off, to get it out of the way, the sticky rice is your standard glucose rice that can be purchased at any world market.
The fish sauce is more or less a combination of fish sauce, chopped onion, sliced shallot, lime juice, and sugar. It’s not bad at all. It’s great, I like it. I sometimes crave it.
The tomato sauce is canned diced tomato, Thai chiles, a little sugar and
minced garlic.
The preparation of the beef jerky is where it gets interesting. From prep to the plate this dish takes about three hours to make.
The beef is top round steak, cut into fillets. Traditionally, the beef would be
sun-dried for a day, then pan-fried and served.
The other preferred method is to dry out the meat in the oven on racks at between 170 and 225 degrees for about an hour and a half. Slice the strips into four to eight-inch cubes, then place in the freezer for later. You can then take the frozen dried beef directly to the skillet.
Each Thai restaurant preps the meat a little differently. Based on the knowledge I have on how this dish is prepared and the price point.
My favorite Thai restaurant is Sabaidee. They are located in a shopping center off 34th Street and Georgia. They have a great lunch menu. The Beef Jerky and Sticky Rice on that menu are $8.50. It comes with about 16 ounces of sticky rice and topped with eight strips of beef jerky, roughly four to six inches in length. Fish and tomato sauce is served in two-ounce cups on the side. If you’re not a fan of fish sauce, you can also opt for just two tomato sauces.
My favorite way to eat this meal is:
1.) make a patty of sticky rice in my hand,
2.) place the beef jerky on
the patty and then,
3.) fold the rice around the beef until it’s like a pig-in-a-blanket. Dip it twice in the fish sauce and enjoy.
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