I was taught this salad by a gorgeous Thai woman. Key difference was she used
a New York strip steak and seared it over high heat, leaving the middle red. Then she sliced it super-thin on the bias and squeezed fresh limes over the cut meat. The acid finished off the cooking, like ceviche. Sprinkle with salt, then scrap it all over the cabbage slaw, meat, drippings, lime juice, all of it.
We eat the salad wrapped in iceberg lettuce that has been soaked to crisp or the inside cabbage leaves that have been zapped slightly to soften (stem also pared down).
It is such a happy meal in your mouth.