Thai beef salad
30 min · 38 g protein · 329 cals / serving
Char-grilled rump sliced thin and still pink, tossed warm through crunchy cucumber, cherry tomatoes, bean sprouts and handfuls of mint, coriander and basil, in a hot-sour-salty lime and fish sauce dressing with fresh chilli and a scatter of roasted peanuts.
Ingredients
- 600 g top sirloin steak, rump or sirloin steak, 2–3 cm thick, fat trimmed
- 1 tsp fish sauce
- 1 tsp canola oil
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
Dressing
- 60 ml lime juice, about 3 limes
- 30 ml fish sauce
- 2 tsp brown sugar
- 1 clove garlic, finely grated
- 1–2 bird's eye red chili pepper, finely chopped
Salad
- 1 cos heart romaine lettuce, torn
- 2 Lebanese cucumbers, halved and sliced on the diagonal
- 250 g grape tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 small red onion, very thinly sliced
- 100 g bean sprouts
- a large handful fresh mint, leaves picked
- a large handful fresh cilantro, leaves picked
- a handful fresh basil, Thai basil if you can find it
To serve
- 25 g roasted unsalted peanuts, roughly chopped
Steps
- Rub the steak with the teaspoon of fish sauce, the oil and the pepper. Heat a barbecue or chargrill pan until very hot and cook the steak for 3–4 minutes each side for medium-rare, or until 145°F in the middle for medium. Rest on a board for 5 minutes.
- Stir the lime juice, fish sauce, sugar, garlic and chilli together until the sugar dissolves. Taste: it should be sharp, salty and hot, with just a hint of sweetness.
- Slice the rested steak thinly across the grain and toss it in a bowl with a third of the dressing and any resting juices.
- Toss the lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, onion, bean sprouts and herbs in a large bowl with the rest of the dressing.
- Pile the salad onto a platter, lay the beef over the top with its juices and scatter with the peanuts. Serve straight away.
Good to know
Which steak?
Rump has the most flavour for the price; sirloin or a trimmed scotch fillet are softer. Whatever you use, slice it thinly across the grain, which is what makes it tender in a salad.
Want it more like a Thai restaurant's?
Toast a tablespoon of raw jasmine rice in a dry pan until golden, grind it, and scatter it over with the peanuts. It adds a nutty crunch that is the signature of the north-eastern version.
Make it ahead?
Make the dressing and prep the vegetables in the morning, and keep them separate. Grill the beef and toss everything together just before eating, so the leaves stay crisp.
Alternative
Per
- Calories
- 77
- Protein
- (48%)
- 9 g
- Fat
- (35%)
- 3 g
- Carbohydrates
- (18%)
- 4 g
- of which sugar
- 2 g
- Fiber
- 1 g
- Sodium
- 180 mg
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Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. General guidance, not medical advice. Talk to your prescriber. How
As written, 1315 kcal goes into the pot and 1717 g of ingredients comes out as about 1700 g of food: 77 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.