This salad is probably more suited to Summer but the brighter evenings have me hankering after lighter food and fresh flavoured dishes. Don’t worry I’ll probably be back to comfort food next week!

I love the flavours of South East Asia, as you can tell from my last post, probably a result of watching too many Australian cooking shows but that can only be a good thing. Vietnamese food is considered one of the healthiest cuisines in the World. Using very little fat and dairy, it focuses on balancing flavour and texture, often mixing quickly cooked meat with fresh vegetables, a lot of herbs and crispy onions or nuts. This Vietnamese Beef and Mango Salad has all of these elements.

Useful tips & links:

• The beef benefits from marinating for a few hours but if you don’t have time 30 minutes will give the meat great flavour. I usually slice it up before marinating but this time I left it whole and fried before slicing it up. I think I prefer it sliced beforehand but cook it what ever way you like.
• I’ve given rough measures for the salad ingredients, don’t stress too much about them. Go with whatever you have or like yourself. For instance sugar snap peas would be great here too.
• Thai basil is usually used but it can be hard to get hold of here. I use a little regular basil and more coriander to make up for it. Again don’t stress too much, use whatever you have or like but do use plenty of herbs as the freshness is essential to the dish.
• I usually use rice vermicelli noodles for this salad but this time I used thicker ones for more body.
• You may be sceptical about serving beef with mango but I assure you it is delicious as the mango balances out the slightly tart dressing. I have paired them before in this Cuban Mojo Beef Salad.  For more Vietnamese inspired food have a look at these Veggie Rice Paper Rolls.
• While not my usual recipe link, this article on Journalist on the Run is a great guide to Vietnamese street food. It makes me want to pack my bags immediately!

 

 

Warm Vietnamese Beef and Mango Salad

 

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 2 striploin or sirloin steaks

For the marinade

• 3 tablespoons of fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon of soy sauce
• 2 stalks of lemongrass
• 1 red chilli
• 3 cloves of garlic
• The juice of ½ a lime
• 1 tablespoon of palm or dark brown sugar

For the dressing:

• 3 tablespoons of fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon of rice wine vinegar
• The juice of ½ a lime
• 1 tablespoon of palm or dark brown sugar
• 1 clove of garlic
• ½ a small shallot
• 1 red chilli

For the salad

• 2 portions of rice noodles
• 1 small mango, peeled and finely sliced
• 1 small carrot, peeled and cut into matchsticks
• 50g of cucumber, sliced the same as the carrot
• A handful of beansprouts
• Approx 30g of fresh herbs – coriander, thai basil, mint etc.

Options to serve –  crispy shallots, chopped peanuts, sliced spring onions, extra finely sliced chilli

Method:

• Trim the steak of fat and slice it thinly. Next blitz all of the ingredients for the marinade in a mini processor or if you don’t have one finely chop and pound with a mortar and pestle. Put the beef into a ziploc bag and pour over the marinade. Put it in the fridge for a few hours or leave it at room temperature for 30 minutes. Bring it back up to room temperature before cooking.
• Next make your dressing to allow time for the flavours to develop. Mix the wet ingredients and sugar together until the sugar dissolves. Crush the clove of garlic and finely chop the chilli and shallot and add them to the rest of the ingredients and set aside.
• Prepare the mango and vegetables for the salad and cook the rice noodles as per packet instructions. Remove the beef from the marinade and stir fry quickly over a high heat.
• Dress the noodles while still warm in half of the dressing which will allow them to absorb the flavours better. Place the noodles onto a plate and top with the veg , the herbs and the beef and pour over the rest of the dressing. Gently toss the salad and top with crispy shallots or chopped peanuts for crunch. Serve immediately.