Charred beef, a smoky-sour dipping sauce, and the best ten-minute rest in Thailand

Crying tiger — suea rong hai — is northeastern Thailand's great steak dish, and it's beautifully simple at heart: a well-flavoured lean steak, marinated briefly, grilled hard, rested properly, then sliced thin and dunked piece by piece into nam jim jaew, a fiery dipping sauce of fish sauce, lime, chilli and toasted rice powder. That rice powder is the revelation — two tablespoons of jasmine rice toasted golden in a dry pan and ground coarse, giving the sauce a smoky, nutty body nothing else can. Rump is precisely the kind of steak this dish was built on. Sticky rice alongside, and eat it with your hands.

1 hr 2-3 servings Prep 40 minsCook 20 minsMain CourseThai

Ingredients

  • 320g Your Farmer grass-fed rump steak
  • 1 tbsp oyster sauce
  • 1 tbsp soy sauce
  • 2 tsp brown sugar, divided
  • 1 tbsp neutral oil
  • 2 tbsp jasmine rice (for the toasted rice powder)
  • 2 tbsp fish sauce
  • 2 tbsp lime juice (about 1 large lime)
  • 1 tsp roasted chilli flakes (or regular chilli flakes, toasted briefly in a dry pan)
  • 2 spring onions, finely sliced
  • Small handful coriander, chopped
  • Steamed jasmine or sticky rice and cucumber slices, to serve

Instructions

For the steak

Whisk the oyster sauce, soy sauce, 1 teaspoon of the brown sugar and the oil. Coat the steak and leave it for 30 minutes at room temperature, or up to 4 hours in the fridge (optional).

1 tbsp oyster sauce1 tbsp soy sauce1 tsp brown sugar1 tbsp neutral oil

For the nam jim jaew

While the steak marinates, toast the rice in a dry pan over medium heat, shaking often, for 8-10 minutes until deep golden and smelling nutty. Cool, then grind to a coarse powder in a mortar or spice grinder — this khao khua is the soul of the sauce.

2 tbsp jasmine rice

Stir together the fish sauce, lime juice, remaining sugar, chilli flakes, half the rice powder and half the spring onion and coriander. Taste — jaew should hit sour and salty first, then smoky heat.

2 tbsp fish sauce2 tbsp lime juice1 tsp chilli flakes1 tsp brown sugar

To cook and serve

Heat a grill pan (or barbecue) until just short of smoking. Scrape excess marinade off the steak and grill 3-4 minutes per side for medium-rare (52-54C). The marinade sugars will char dark in spots — that's the dish, not a mistake.

Rest the steak, loosely covered, for a full 10 minutes. Crying tiger is always served sliced, so the rest is doing all the work of keeping those slices juicy.

Slice thinly across the grain and lay out on a platter. Scatter with the remaining rice powder, spring onion and coriander, and serve the jaew in a bowl for dunking, with rice and cucumber alongside.

remaining rice powder2 spring onionscoriander

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Why This Thai Classic Wants a Steak Like Rump

In Isaan, where crying tiger comes from, the dish was never built on pampered cuts — it's traditionally made with well-worked, full-flavoured lean beef like brisket, grilled over coals and sliced thin. Rump is the home kitchen's honest match: a hindquarter muscle with real character, lean enough to slice clean, flavourful enough to stand up to a sauce that pulls no punches. The name has a few folk explanations — the most repeated says the beef was so good it made the tiger cry. Your Farmer® rump is 100% grass-fed, and this is one of those dishes where beef that walked real pasture makes itself known — there's nowhere for a bland steak to hide between the char and the jaew. You'll find the rump in three of the four packs of our grass-fed beef CSA share, and this is arguably its finest hour.

Swaps and Variations

Sirloin and topside both work sliced the same way — the rules don't change: hard char, long rest, thin slices across the grain. The jaew scales to the table's courage; one teaspoon of roasted chilli flakes is honest Thai heat, so halve it for the cautious and double it for the brave. A small splash of tamarind water in the sauce adds a rounder sourness if you have it. Served in smaller slices with toothpicks, crying tiger makes a serious shared starter for a barbecue crowd. For the full temperament chart of every steak in the freezer, our guide to every beef cut and how to cook it has the map.

Storage and Leftovers

The jaew keeps a week in a jar in the fridge and, like most Thai dipping sauces, arguably improves by day two. Toasted rice powder keeps a month airtight — make double, because it wants to end up on everything. The steak is best the day it's grilled, but cold leftover slices are halfway to a Thai beef salad already — toss them with the leftover jaew, fresh herbs and cucumber, or follow our Thai beef salad for the full version.

Frequently asked questions

What is toasted rice powder and can I skip it?

It's raw jasmine or sticky rice toasted golden in a dry pan and ground coarse — it gives jaew its smoky, nutty body and light thickness. You can technically skip it, but it's the signature of the sauce and takes ten minutes to make, so don't.

How hot is nam jim jaew really?

As written, genuinely spicy but not punishing — the lime and fish sauce carry as much of the flavour as the chilli. Start with half the chilli flakes if you're unsure; you can always stir more in.

Do I need a barbecue for this?

No — a heavy grill pan just short of smoking gives you the char the dish needs. A barbecue over high heat adds a little extra smoke, which never hurts, but indoors works.

Why does the steak need a ten-minute rest?

Because crying tiger is served sliced, and slicing an unrested steak lets everything you cooked for run onto the board. Ten minutes lets the fibres relax and hold their juices, so every thin slice stays plump.

Which other cuts work for crying tiger?

Sirloin and topside are both good, sliced thin across the grain after the same rest. Avoid the slow-cooking cuts — this dish wants a steak that's tender at medium-rare.

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