Time for a bit of Asian heat in the kitchen. This is a really zingy and light main course salad for those nights when you want punch and flavour but don’t want to spend hours standing over a stove.
Whip up the dressing when you get in from work then you can marinade the steak in the time it takes you to have a shower and a glass or two of wine …
Asian-style Steak Salad
Ingredients:
400g good quality rump steak, trimmed of any skin and gristle
For the marinade/dressing:
Juice of 1-2 limes (about 60ml)
1-2 fresh chillies, medium hot, sliced horizontally into rings (de-seed them if you don’t want the dish to be too hot)
2 tbsp palm sugar (or use golden castor sugar)
2 tbsp fish sauce (nam pla)
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
A large knob of ginger, peeled and grated (about 4 tspns)
2 fat cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
4 tspns sesame oil
For the salad:
1 bundle of soba rice noodles (about 80g), cooked according to packet instructions, drained and cooled, then stirred with 2 tspn of the dressing to stop them sticking together
1/2 a cucumber, peeled, halved lengthways, deseeded with a teaspoon and cut into thick slices on the diagonal
A few Baby Gem lettuce leaves
1/2 red and 1/2 yellow pepper, quartered, cored and sliced
A handful of cherry tomatoes, halved
1 big bunch of coriander, leaves picked from stems
1 bunch of mint, leaves picked from stems
Small bunch of spring onions, trimmed and finely sliced
50g cashew nuts or peanuts, tossed in a hot dry pan until golden
Lime wedges to garnish
Method:
Whisk together the dressing/marinade ingredients until the sugar has dissolved.
Pour half the dressing over the steak and marinade for up to two hours.
Heat a grill, barbecue or griddle pan to hot and sear the steak for a couple of minutes on each side. Allow it to rest for 5-10 minutes, keeping it warm.
When you’re ready to eat, toss the salad and herbs with the noodles in the remaining dressing (keep back a tablespoon or so).
Arrange on a large platter, cut the steak across the grain into thin slices and add it to the salad along with any juices that have run out while resting. Drizzle the last bit of dressing over the meat.
Scatter over the toasted nuts and garnish with wedges of lime to squeeze over.
Lovely. We are heading on holidays soon and I plan to bring a beef salad for the boat trip to France. I plan to use a fillet that I can carve on the boat and have with some fine wine. I always try to get better food and wine than can be bought on board. We tend to sit at a table just outside the overpriced and pretty poor restaurant. Naughty but great fun.
Must be torture for the paying diners! Where in France are you going? Did I see somewhere you were planning to visit Stephane?
It does cause them to gaze enviously. We plan to round off the meal with some nice Irish cheeses too. Perfect with a nice big red.
Yes! We are going to hook up with Stephane. We will be staying a couple of kilometres from his place and it would be rude not to. I can see a couple of posts from that encounter.
I’m green with envy. Have a fabulous trip.