Thai salads are ideal if you are trying to shed pounds because they contain hardly any oil. Instead, the dressing is sweet and sour, pungent and as chilli hot as you like. Any Thai beef salad I’ve ever eaten has been made with quickly seared beef that is crusty on the outside but pink within. Don’t bother with this salad unless you chose a decent piece of steak because it must be very tender. It’s the crunchy vegetables that should exercise your jaws. The sweetness from the grapes is a lovely fresh surprise. Instead of grapes it would also be very good made with small chunks of pineapple; still a high street bargain. There is plenty here for four big eaters but a bowl of hot new or waxy potatoes, tossed with mint, would be a lovely accompaniment.
Ingredients
200g green beans
1 big garlic clove
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1-2 small red chillies
2 tbsp Thai fish sauce
½ tbsp brown sugar
½ tbsp soy sauce
2 limes
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2 medium red onions
½ cucumber
2 red chicory
100g seedless red grapes
15g fresh coriander
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Rump steak (about 350g)
1 tbsp vegetable oil
20 small mint leaves
Method
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Serves 4
Prep: 10 min
Cook: 20 min
Top and tail the beans and snap in half. Boil the beans in salted water for 2 minutes. Drain. Peel and finely chop the garlic, crush to a paste with a little salt. Split the chilli or chillies, scrape away the seeds, slice into skinny batons then chop into tiny dice. Place garlic and chilli in a salad bowl. Add the fish sauce, sugar, soy and juice from the limes. Stir. Finely slice the onions. Stir into the dressing; after a few minutes they will wilt. Peel the cucumber, split lengthways and scrape out the seeds. Slice into half moons. Quarter the chicory lengthways and separate the leaves. Plonk cucumber, beans and chicory on top of the onions. Coarsely chop the coriander and halve the grapes. Add both to the salad. Now cook the steak. Heat a griddle or heavy frying pan until very hot. Smear the steak with oil and season one side with salt. Slap the seasoned side down on the griddle and press down hard with a fish slice, holding it there for 2 minutes. Salt the exposed side, turn the steak and cook as before. Rest for 5 minutes before slicing 1cm thick across the width. Toss the salad, add the steak and any juices and toss again. Scatter the mint over the top.