This main-course salad is based on what I gather is a classic Vietnamese sauce called Nước chấm. It’s a combination of lime juice, a bit of sugar, and fish sauce. It’s sharp, salty and addictive. The recipe combines slices of lightly-cooked steak with a salad of shredded vegetables. You can also make it without the steak, in which case I’d recommend adding some toasted peanuts. You can also make this more hearty still by serving it alongside some cooked rice, or rice noodles.
Vietnamese Beef Salad with Nước chấm
Serves 4
Ingredients
2 red chilli peppers (or to taste)
½ cup fish sauce
1 tablespoon lime zest
⅓ cup fresh lime juice (about 3 limes)
2 tablespoons dark muscovado sugar
2 garlic cloves, grated
1 inch of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
600g rump steak or ¾ cup roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped
½ cucumber
6 carrots, peeled and shredded
½ medium white cabbage, finely shredded
8 spring onions, thinly sliced
1 bunch coriander, coarsely chopped
roasted peanuts (if you’re not using steak)
an additional lime half, for garnish (optional)
Preparation
De-seed and finely chop one chilli pepper. In a small bowl, combine the chopped chilli, fish sauce, lime zest, lime juice, brown sugar, ginger and garlic.
If you’re using the steak, then pour 1/2 of the mixture into a sealable plastic bag and add the steak, if you’re using it. Seal, and leave to marinate at room temperature for at least 30 minutes (or refrigerate for up to 24 hours). Let meat come to room temperature before cooking if necessary.
De-seed the second chilli pepper and slice it finely. Slice the cucumber into thin matchsticks. Toss the sliced chilli, sliced cucumber, shredded carrot and cabbage, spring onions and almost all the coriander together to mix. Keep a little coriander back to garnish the top of the salad.
If you’re not using the steak, simply add the peanuts, pour the dressing over the vegetables, toss, garnish with a little more coriander, and serve.
If you’re using the steak, toss the salad with the remaining dressing and then spread the salad out onto a serving platter and set aside.
When you are ready to eat heat a cast iron pan (or other sturdy frying pan) to very hot and add the steak. Cook for 75 seconds on each side, unless you don’t like your meat rare, in which case cook it for perhaps 2 minutes a side, or however long you favour cooking steak. I like steak very rare . . .
Remove the meat from the pan and let it sit for 3-5 minutes on a cutting board. Then slice the steak very thinly, and place the slices over the top of the salad. Scatter the sliced red chiles and reserved coriander over the top and serve with an additional sliced lime on the side, in case anyone wants more lime.
Recipe adapted from Melissa Clark, New York Times Cooking.
Saffron gives a beautiful colour and a rich, aromatic flavour to this simple winter salad.
Carrot, Cabbage and Saffron Salad
Ingredients
0.5g saffron (on whole little packet)
50 ml rapeseed oil
1 medium cabbage, coarsely shredded
500g carrots, peeled and coarsely shredded
1 red onion, coarsely shredded
50 ml cider vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1½ teaspoons salt
black pepper to taste
Preparation
Combine the saffron and oil in a mortar and pestle, and leave to soak for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, mix the cabbage, carrots and red onion in a bowl.
When the saffron has soaked for 15 minutes use the pestle to crush the saffron into the oil, to release its flavour. Tip the saffron-y oil into a small bowl and whisk in the vinegar, mustard, salt and pepper.
Pour the dressing over the vegetables and, using your hands, vigorously scrunch and squeeze everything together to mix.
Place a plate over the top of the salad and weigh it down a bit by putting a couple of tins, or some kitchen weights, on top. The goal is to press the salad together to encourage the flavours to blend.
Leave it for at least an hour, and then serve.
(Recipe courtesy of Ulrika Andersson.)
Meera Sodha’s Fresh India won the Observer Food Monthly’s 2017 ‘best new cookbook’ award. Cook this and you’ll appreciate why. She recommends serving with ‘a fiery pickle, hot chapattis and yogurt, or with dal and rice’.
Savoy Cabbage, Black Kale and Potato Subji (Savoy Aloo Gobhi)
Serves 4 to 6 as part of a main course.
Ingredients
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
3 tablespoons rapeseed oil
15 curry leaves
1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
1 large onion, halved and thinly sliced
800g potatoes, cut into 1-inch chunks
200g savoy cabbage, finely shredded
200g black kale, finely shredded
1¼ teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon chilli powder
¾ teaspoon ground turmeric
Preparation
Lightly grind the coriander and cumin seeds with a pestle and mortar. Put the oil into a large lidded frying pan over a medium heat and, when hot, add the curry leaves and mustard seeds. When they crackle, add the onion. Cook for around 10 minutes, until golden and sweet, stirring occasionally.
Add the crushed coriander and cumin, followed by the potatoes. Cook for 10-15 minutes, turning every now and then until crispy. Add a couple of tablespoons of water, cover with the lid and cook for a further 5 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender and no longer resist the point of a knife.
Finally, add the shredded cabbage and black kale to the pan with a couple of tablespoons of water and stir-fry for 3 minutes. Add the salt, chilli and turmeric, mix well, cover with the lid, reduce the heat to low and cook for another 4 minutes, or until the cabbage and black kale have wilted. Enjoy!
(Recipe adapted from Meera Sodha, Fresh India.)
There isn’t kohlrabi in the share next week, but you may still have yours from this week’s share (especially as this is coming to you early this week).
What is a kohlrabi? What should you do with it? The answer is: put it in a cabbage and kohlrabi salad. Delicious and crunchy. Actually, the salad is pretty good without the kohlrabi too.
The recipe is from Yotam Ottolenghi, who has this to say about the kohlrabi: ‘People always ask me what to do with kohlrabi, an often unwanted child in the organic vegetable box. It seems too healthy, too weird, too German! In actual fact, this is a wonderful vegetable. When mixed with floury root vegetables you can use it in gratins; you can shallow-fry it in olive oil and serve with garlic and chives; and you can add it to an Oriental stir-fry. But in this salad I think I have found the absolute best use for a kohlrabi. It is wonderfully fresh-tasting, with a good lemony kick and some sharp sweetness.’
Cabbage and Kohlrabi Salad
Serves 4.
Ingredients
1 medium kohlrabi (about 240g)
½ white cabbage (about 240g)
1 large bunch of dill, roughly chopped (about 6 heaped tablespoons)
120g currants or dried whole sour cherries
grated zest of 1 lemon
90ml lemon juice
60ml olive oil
salt and pepper
Preparation
Peel the kohlrabi and cut into thin matchsticks.
Shred the cabbage into fine strips.
Combine all the ingredients in a bowl. Massage everything together for a few minutes to allow the flavours to meld. Use your hands to scrunch up the kohlrabi and cabbage a bit if you don’t like super-crunchy raw vegetables. This will make them a bit softer. Let the salad sit for at least 10 minutes.
Add salt and pepper to taste and serve.
(Recipe adapted from Yotam Ottolenghi, Plenty.)