Rare beef salad
Salad
3 spring onions, finely chopped
1 packet mung beans
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1/4 cup mint leaves, chopped
1 cup coriander (stalks reserved for dressing)
1/2 cucumber, halved, deseeded and sliced or peeled
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1.2 kg rump steak
salt and pepper
1/4 cup crushed peanuts, to garnish
Dressing
1/2 cup fresh mint
coriander stalks (from salad)
1 chilli, roughly chopped
1 Tbsp fish sauce
2 cloves garlic
4cm ginger, peeled and chopped
2 Tbsp palm sugar (or castor sugar)
1 tsp sesame oil
juice of 1 lime
2 Tbsp sweet chilli sauce
Method
To make the dressing, place all dressing ingredients in a small food processor and whizz until well combined. Taste and adjust seasoning using more fish sauce or lime juice if needed. Set aside.
For the salad, combine all salad ingredients in a large bowl. Spoon over 2 tbsp of the dressing.
Heat a heavy-bottomed fry pan until smoking. Add oil. Pat steak dry with paper towels and season generously with salt and pepper on both sides. Cook steak in batches for 2-3 minutes on each side. Remove from the pan, spoon over the dressing while steak rests for 5 minutes.
Slice steak into 1cm slices. Place salad on a long platter and arrange steak on top. Garnish with peanuts and enjoy.
Pho
This dish is a staple in Vietnam. You can see the steam of the giant stock pots rising from most streets in Vietnam. The broth is cooked for hours, extracting all of the flavour from each of the ingredients added to the gloriously deep yet light soup. It was a comforting experience that we ate at short tables on the curbside.
There are different varieties of this dish. Some have fatty beef brisket added, others are lighter with less meat. This is our version of this must-try Vietnamese soup.
The fresh herbs and fresh chilli balance the broth perfectly.
Broth
1.8 kg beef shin
1 onion, unpeeled and cut in half
7 cm piece of ginger, chopped
Salt to taste
3 whole star anise
1 stick cinnamon
3 tbsp fish sauce
3.5 litres water
To serve
200 g dried flat rice noodles
800 g beef rump steak, thinly sliced
¼ onion, sliced thinly
½cup chopped coriander
2 spring onions, chopped
2 cups mung bean sprouts
1 red chilli
1 bunch Thai basil
1 lime, cut into 4 wedges
¼ cup sriracha (hot sauce)
For the broth
Preheat oven to 200°C.
Place the beef bones on a tray in the oven for 15 minutes. Put the onion on the tray with the bones and roast the onion and the bones for a further 45 minutes. The bones should be brown and onion should be charred.
Remove the tray from the oven and place the bones and onion in a large pot with any juices that have been released while cooking.
Place the rest of the broth ingredients into a large pot and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and continue to simmer for 5 hours.
Strain the broth into another pot and bring back up to a simmer.
To serve
Cook the rice noodles as per packet instructions. Divide the noodles between four bowls, top with the thin slices of raw beef and onion and pour over the hot broth. The heat of the broth will cook the thin slices of meat.
Garnish with the rest of the ingredients, using whatever proportions you like
