Spicy Asian Beef Salad

The month of January is all about detox detox detox!! Gone are the mince pies, the selection boxes and the over indulging on Irish Cream Liqueur. Now tis the season to be healthy! Healthy for me doesn't have to mean boring. This Thai inspired beef salad is an exciting combination of fresh flavours, that is so tasty and satisfying you forget that its healthy.

The salad dressing is from Saba restaurant's cookbook. If you are ever in Dublin and in search of a great Thai/Vietnamese Restaurant, then you got to check Saba out. Everything on the menu is delicious. The recipe calls for 4 birds eye chilies in addition to everything else. I've left these out as I'm a bit of a wuss when it comes to chilies, but feel free to add them. I'm content with my chili flakes.

Serves 2

Ingredients

Beef

• 1 steak, fillet or sirloin
• 2 tbsp of mirin
• 1 tbsp of palm sugar or brown sugar
• 2 tbsp of rice wine vinegar
• 2 spring onions, roughly chopped

Salad

• 1 stack of rice noodles
• 1 carrot
• 50g of chopped roasted peanuts
• 2 spring onions
• 2 tbsp of chopped coriander

Salad Dressing

• 2 shallots, peeled and chopped
• 1 tsp of chili flakes
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 tsp of coriander stalks
• 3 tbsp of fish sauce
• Juice of 1 lime
• 1 tsp of sugar
• 1 tsp of chili sauce

To serve

• 1 tsp of chopped peanuts
• 1 tsp of freshly chopped coriander
• 1 lime cut into wedges

Method

1. Firstly, you must marinate the steak. Combine all the steak ingredients in non metallic bowl and place the steak in the bowl. Allow to marinate for at least 1 hour.
2. Pour Boiling water over the noodles and leave to soak for 30 minutes. Then drain and rinse in cold water and drain again.
3. To make the salad dressing, simply add all ingredients into a mini food blender and blend until liquidised.
4. Heat a frying pan on high, get it really hot then add the steak. Cook for 3 minutes each side and then set aside to rest for at least 10 minutes.
5. Pour the marinade into a small saucepan and cook on high heat until its thickened and reduced.
6. In a large bowl, combine the noodles with the rest of the salad ingredients. Pour over all the salad dressing and mix really well so that everything is coated.
7. Divide the salad into 2 bowls.
8. Cut the steak against the grain into strips as thinly as you can. Divide the steak pieces on top of each noodle bowl. 
9. Pour over the thickened reduced marinade.
10. Scatter with some more crushed peanuts, sliced spring onion and freshly chopped coriander. Serve with lime wedges.