Salads, Lesson #6 - Thai Beef Salad
The Thai Beef Salad is tasty and juicy stir-fried strips of beef, with sour & spicy dressing, mixed with noodles and thinly sliced spring onions, mixed greens, topped with roasted peanuts and a wedge of lime on the side.
Salads are dishes consisting of raw or cooked vegetables, meat or seafood, which may be mixed with a sauce or topped with a dressing. They can be served as appetizers, main courses, side salad or dessert salad.
Salads are hot or cold, classical or contemporary, cooked or uncooked, simple (with one ingredient) or compound (with many ingredients) and may also include leftovers from a previous meal or carbohydrate ingredients like pasta, fresh or dried herbs like oregano, poached or boiled eggs or even lentils.
Salad Recipe of the Day - Thai Beef Salad
Thai salads often do not have raw vegetables or fruits as their main ingredients but use minced meat, seafood, and noodles instead.
Thai salads are not served as entrées but normally eaten as one of the main dishes in a Thai buffet, together with rice (depending on the region this can be glutinous rice or non-glutinous rice) or the Thai rice noodle called Khanom chin.
This popular beef salad is not just an appetizer but also a delicious accompaniment, as part of any meal. Using fairly common ingredients, this Thai recipe is quick and easy to make. Grilling good quality beef, adding thinly slice vegetables, tossing with your very own Thai-style dressing and serving with fresh vegetables on a hot summer day makes this dish a great light lunch.
The Thai Beef Salad is tasty and juicy stir-fried strips of beef, with sour & spicy dressing, mixed with noodles and thinly sliced spring onions, mixed greens, topped with roasted peanuts and a wedge of lime on the side.
Recipe Card
| Ingredients | Quantity |
| Tenderloin steak (cut into thin strips) | 300-400 gm |
| Salt & ground black pepper | As required |
| Cooking oil | 2 tbsp |
| Mint leaves (chopped) | 1 tbsp |
| Fresh coriander leaves (chopped) | 1 tbsp |
| Red onion (thinly sliced) | ½ cup |
| Spring onion (thinly sliced) | ½ piece |
| Thai red chilli (finely chopped) | 1 tsp |
| Sesame oil | 1 tbsp |
| Soya sauce | 1 tsp |
| Fish sauce | 2 tbsp |
| Cherry tomatoes (quartered) | 8 pieces |
| Cucumber (sliced) | ½ cup |
| Brown sugar | 1 tsp |
| Rice vermicelli (noodles) | 2 handfuls |
| Water | As required |
| Mixed greens | ½ cup |
| Lime juice | ½ piece |
| To Garnish | |
| Roasted peanut (roughly chopped) | ½ cup |
| Lime (wedges) | 1 piece |
| Thai red chilli (thinly sliced) | 1 piece |
| Spring onion (chopped) | 1 tbsp |
Method of Preparation:
- In a bowl, soak the rice noodles in water, until soft. Then plunge the noodles into boiling water for 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat, drain the noodles and plunge in a bowl of cold water to stop the noodles from overcooking.
- Make a dressing by combining the chilli, lime juice, brown sugar, fish sauce, sesame oil, soya sauce and season with salt and pepper. Do a taste test to get a good blend of sweet, sour and salt, which is very important in Thai cuisine.
- In a mixing bowl, combine cherry tomatoes, mixed greens, mint leaves, fresh coriander, onions, spring onions, cucumber and noodles.
- Add the dressing and toss well.
- Season the beef strips with salt & pepper. In a wok/saute pan on high heat, add oil and stir fry the beef for 2 minutes until crisp and tender.
- To serve, place the cooked beef on top of the plated salad and drizzle with peanuts, chilli (optional) and lime wedges. Serve the rest of the peanuts on the side.
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