Mango and Beef Salad with Rice Noodles

Approx cost: €6.50
Approx calories (per serving): ~600
Approx preparation and baking time: 1 hour

After eating some relatively unspiced food recently I felt in the mood for a bit of a kick. Strong flavours, herbs, and nothing does this better than coriander, mango and red chillies. Give this a try and see what you think!

Ingredients

Ingredients you'll need for this dish

– 100g Rice Noodles
– 1 stalk of Lemongrass
– 2 small Steaks (~200g total)
– half a green Pepper
– 1 small Mango
– 1 small Onion
– 1 chunk Cucumber (around 6cm long)
– 1 bunch fresh Mint
– 1 bunch fresh Coriander
– 2 small handfuls Rocket
– 7-8 Cherry Tomatoes
– 3 tsps Chilli Purée
– 2 tbsps Olive Oil
– 1 tbsp Soy Sauce
– 4 tsps Balsamic Vinegar
– 4 tsps Nuöc Màm fish sauce

Instructions

1. Start off by cutting the beef into thin strips. Put 1tbsp of Olive Oil into a frying pan and start frying the meat. While it’s cooking, trim the ends and a couple of outer leaves from the lemongrass and bash it all over with the blunt side of a knife blade before chopping finely. When the meat starts to brown add in the chopped lemongrass and continue to fry a little until the meat is cooked through before setting aside in a large bowl and allowing to cool.
   
   
   
   




2. While the meat cools, place a large pan of water on the stove and heat until almost boiling. Remove from the heat and place the noodles into the water. Allow to soak in the water for around 5 minutes, stirring occasionally (or cook per the instructions on the noodle packet if different) before draining and allowing to cool.
   
   
   
   




3. Chop the half of the green pepper into fine slices, cut the cherry tomatoes in half and chop the coriander finely and mix together with the beef strips and 2tsps of the Chilli Purée.
   
   
   
   




4. Peel the mango and cut away the flesh from the stone. Cut the flesh into cubes and transfer to a bowl. Chop the mint finely and put half of the mint in the bowl with the mango. Add in 2tsps Balsamic Vinegar and 2tsps of Nuöc Màm and mix well.
   
   
   
   




5. Cut the cucumber into slices and cut each slice in half. Place a small handful of rocket into 2 bowls and arrange the meat, sliced cucumber and mango into the bowls on top. Using a fork, pick up some clumps of noodles and twirl the fork around to create small nests. Place 3 nests on top of the salad in each bowl and sprinkle the remainder of the chopped Mint on top of the salad. Mix 1tbsp Olive Oil, 2tsps Nuöc Màm, 2tsps Balsamic Vinegar, 1tsp Chilli Purée and the 1tbsp of Soy Sauce in a bowl and stir well with a fork or small whisk.
   
   
   
   




6. Spoon the sauce over the noodles and the rest of the salad and serve!

Nom nom