Thai Beef Salad

Written by Catherine Saxelby on Thursday, 28 July 2011.
Tagged: dinner, easy, lunch, meat, salad

Ready In: 1 hour
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 minutes+resting time
Serves: 4

Beef and males seem to go together. So here's a popular beef salad that will hook them in with its strong flavours of chilli, coriander and the soy in the dressing. If your man refuses to eat most "salads", this is a great starting point. Give it a try.

Ingredients

400 g beef fillet
pepper
150 g rice vermicilli or fine noodles
FOR THE SALAD:
1 cucumber, sliced
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 large red capsicum, deseeded and chopped
½ red onion, sliced finely
1 bunch fresh coriander, leaves chopped
1 bunch fresh Thai basil, leaves plucked off
FOR THE THAI DRESSING:
juice of 1-2 limes (start with one, add extra to taste)
1 tablespoon fish sauce
2 teaspoons soy sauce, pref salt-reduced
2 teaspoons palm sugar or brown sugar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

Nutrition per serve

970 kJ (230 Calories), 7 g fat (2 g saturated fat), 15 g carbohydrate (6 g sugars), 4 g fibre, 700 mg sodium.

Directions

Heat oven to moderate 180°C/350°F. Place beef on a baking tray 30 x 20 cm that you've lined with baking paper. Season with pepper.
Roast the beef for 20-30 minutes so it is still pink (rare) in the centre. Meanwhile make up the dressing.
Remove the beef from the oven. Cover with foil and leave to rest for 15 minutes while you make the assemble the salad and boil the noodles.
Once the beef has rested and cooled slightly, slice it thinly.

To make the dressing:

Stir all the ingredients together in a small bowl until the sugar has dissolved. Leave to sit for 15 minutes or more for the flavours to develop. Can be made the day before. Add extra lime, sugar or fish sauce as necessary to taste.

To cook the vermicelli:
Cook according to the directions on the packet (for most types, you simply pour boiling or warm water over them and leave for about 2 minutes to soak). Drain and leave to cool.

To make the salad:

Place all ingredients into a large bowl and gently toss together.

To assemble, place one-quarter of the noodles on the bottom of each of four bowls, add the salad, top with slices of the beef and spoon over the dressing.