• 2 teaspoons vegetable oil (groundnut oil works well here)
• 600 g beef fillet, trimmed of all sinew and fat
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 3 tablespoons white rice
• 3 banana shallots, thinly sliced (or use 4–6 regular round shallots)
• 2 handfuls of roasted, skinless peanuts, roughly chopped (or use the caramelized peanuts)
• handful of mint leaves, stems removed and large leaves torn in half
• 3 baby Gem lettuces or 1 large Cos or romaine lettuce

For the Coriander and Lime Dressing

• bunch of coriander, ideally with the roots on
• 1–2 hot red chillies, roughly chopped (more or less to taste, but you do want some fire in this dish)
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled
• ½ teaspoon salt
• finely grated zest of 2 limes and 150 ml lime juice (6–8 limes)
• 2 heaped tablespoons grated palm sugar (or use demerara or brown sugar)
• 1 teaspoon Thai fish sauce
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce

Rub the oil all over the beef and lightly season it. Leave to rest for 15 minutes at room temperature on a plate, covered with cling film.

Heat a heavy skillet or grill pan (or even the barbecue). Cook the beef over a quite fierce heat to colour a dark brown on all sides, obviously without burning, then remove from the pan and leave to rest at room temperature for 15 minutes, which will help stop it bleeding when you slice it.

While it’s cooking and resting, you can make the dressing with a pestle and mortar or in a small food processor (although the former works better with smaller quantities). If you have the roots of the coriander, then cut them off, discard half and wash the remainder thoroughly (dirt has a way of sticking to them). Roughly chop enough of them to give you a teaspoonful and place in the mortar with the chillies, garlic and salt, and pound to a paste. Finely grate the zest off 2 of the limes, and juice them all, then add the zest to the mortar with the palm sugar and pound again. Add the lime juice, fish sauce and soy sauce, and mix thoroughly to dissolve the sugar. Taste and see if it needs any further sweetness or saltiness, then adjust if necessary by adding either extra palm sugar or fish sauce. Remove the leaves from the coriander stems and cut the stems into 1 cm long pieces, then put the leaves and stems in a bowl.

Place the rice in a small pan and cook over moderate heat to colour it pale gold, shaking it often. Once cooked, take it off the heat and allow it to cool, then grind it fairly fine (but not to a powder) in a spice grinder or the mortar.

Once the beef has rested, slice it thinly against the grain and place the slices in a bowl with the shallots, half the peanuts and most of the mint and coriander leaves. Pour on all of the dressing and gently toss together.