Every once in a while, I run across a dish that really grabs my attention and my palate. I'll get a little obsessive about it and do lots of research while trying to figure out how to make it.
One such dish is a Thai salad known mysteriously as "Crying Tiger" or "Tiger's tears".
I first tried it at a restaurant called "Rearn Thai" in Greensboro, NC. It's a long-established restaurant that most people in Greensboro know about. A few years ago they moved out of their old location into a snazzy new place with glass walls and elegant decor. Here's a link to their write-up on Google Maps.
I like it spicy. So when I saw the name "Tiger's Tears" was starred as very spicy, I figured it was the dish for me (you can't eat curries all the time). After all, it made the tiger cry. When it got to the table I saw a plate of perfectly browned bites of beef surrounded by fresh veggies and a cup of mysterious sauce on the side. Looking into the cup, it was filled with dried, flaked chilis, green onion and cilantro floating in a brownish liquid. A sniff confirmed that it was fish sauce and a hint of lime. Now I like fish sauce, but I was beginning to feel a little disappointed because the sauce wasn't emulsified and kind of looked thrown together. With a little trepidation, I grabbed a piece of beef with my chopsticks and dipped it in. Then I tasted it.
Wow.
Between the lime and the fish sauce and the toasted chili flakes and everything else it captivated me. I was dumbfounded and immediately attacked the meal, sweat pouring off of me as I went (it does pack quite a punch). No sriracha. No other condiments. Nothing but the "crying tiger".
I would never, I decided, be able to achieve a sauce of that delicacy and balance. It just wasn't possible. Besides, I lived just down the road from Rearn Thai and would be able to get it any time I wanted it. Then I moved away.
As life happens, you often get distracted and forget about things for long stretches. That happened with this dish. I looked for it when I went to other Thai restaurants, but somehow it never appeared. Did I dream it?
About a month ago, I started playing around with Thai curries and was doing the necessary research. I was thinking about how much I like fish sauce and contemplating making it into a salad dressing like I had had in some Vietnamese restaurants. I tried out a version and it was okay. Not quite right. Then I remembered the "Crying Tiger", but I couldn't remember the name. Damn. Too long ago. Too much had happened. So I started a hopeless search with what little I could remember.
Actually it didn't take long. I had a link to very cool blog called "shesimmers" (links to recipe and a good discussion of the name). It looked good, but there was something that didn't quite look right. So bookmarking the site, I went on. A couple of days later I discovered another interesting site. It wasn't flashy or particularly slick, but it had a lot of information about Thailand and looked to be a labor of love. It's called Simply Thai (links to recipe). It's called "Seua Rong Hai" in Thai. Now Simply Thai doesn't mess around. They tell you how to make the dish and make rather stringent warnings about messing around with the recipe. "This is how it's done," is the attitude and I can appreciate that.
Well, after a quick trip to the grocery, I had everthing I needed (ok, I admit, I left out the sweet soy sauce for the marinade. And I did get the "stir-fry" beef at the grocery. Dry run right?). So let's do it. I followed the recipe in the link above, it's pretty simple. Wonderful. I might have gotten carried away with the fish sauce, but not too bad for a first shot at a dish I never thought I'd be able to make.
Before long I was sweating away on an icy cold night. Just the thing.
One note, finding dried chilis isn't hard, but getting one hot enough can be. I used "japones" chilis, flaked them by hand and dry-toasted them on the stove top (you'll know they're ready when the begin to smell like peanuts - at least they do to me). Do not - a warning garnered from personal experience - lean over the pan to sniff them. You'll get an eyeful of vaporised capsicin for your trouble. It stings.
I'll be making this again soon. Try it out if you like it hot. [I'll post pictures later when I figure it all out and have a little more time - j]
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