Nuer Sawan: Heavenly Beef

There are times in your life that you will remember forever, even though they contain no life changing events. Moments that are nothing special by themselves, but which contain some item, some object, some action, some thing that makes an impermiable impression. One of my moments is the one in which I tasted the greatest snack food ever invented: Heavenly Beef. It's the coriander that makes it.

Ingredients:

1 lb lean beef

2 ts ground coriander seeds

1/2 ts ground cumin - coarse

1 tbs fish sauce

1/2 c sugar

3 tbs rice wine

Directions:

1. Slice the beef thin. Use a slicer if you've got one. Get the butcher to do it. We're talking really thin here. Potato chip thin.
2. Mix all other ingredients until smooth. This is the marinade. Marinade the beef in it. If you don't have enough to cover everything use more rice wine. If you use more than a half cup of wine then you are doing it wrong. Marinade at least overnight, but not more then 3 days. 20 minutes will be fine if you are in a rush.
3. Dry the beef. Use a paper towel to wipe off the excess marinade first. Then dry it somehow. Most Thai cookbooks* recomend putting it on wire racks and "drying it in the sun." This makes me think of flies. I use one of those food dehydrator things you can buy in the middle of the night. The Thai cookbooks** warn against over drying, but I haven't had any problem yet. I'll let you know if I do.
4. Fry the beef. I have heard that a Fry Daddy is good for this, but I can't confirm or deny this. Use peanut or some other sort of vegetable oil, as olive oil can't cook it hot enough. About 1/4 of oil in the frying pan heated until it just shimmers, if you decide to go that route. Keep the oil hot enough to fry without getting the beef to greasy. Set aside on paper towels to drain.

Serves 4-6, cool, 1-2 still warm.

* At least that's what I've been told they say. I don't actually read Thai.
** Again, so I've been told.