Thai pork salad
Meat mains
Thai pork salad
For some reason beef seems to be the chosen meat for Thai salads, but pork works even better. Vary the vegetables according to availability – the same applies to the herbs, but the mint is essential. The dressing is also cast in stone; the cornerstone in fact, of so much Thai food. Slices of ripe mango are also a good addition. Frozen kaffir lime leaves are available from Asian supermarkets for about £2 a bag. Don't use the dried ones, they're a waste of space. Leave the pork to marinade for a couple of hours to let the flavours muddle.
Ingredients
main
- for the dressing:
- juice of 1 lime
- 1 tbsp dark sugar, palm ideally
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 2 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- 2 tsp fresh ginger, finely grated
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
for the salad
- 450g pork escalopes
- 2 Little Gem lettuces, roughly broken up
- 1 cucumber, halved length-ways, thinly sliced diagonally
- 5 spring onions, thinly sliced
- 2 long fresh red chillies, halved, deseeded and thinly sliced length-ways
- leaves from 1 bunch fresh mint
- leaves from 1 bunch fresh coriander
- leaves from 1 bunch fresh basil
- 60g toasted unsalted peanuts, lightly toasted and coarsely chopped
- 4 fresh or frozen kaffir lime leaves, centre veins removed, finely shredded
Method
Make the dressing
-
Step 1
Whisk together all of the ingredients: lime juice, palm sugar, fish sauce, sesame oil, soy sauce, ginger and garlic in a jug. Place the pork escalopes in a glass dish and marinate in half the dressing. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for a couple of hours.
For the salad
-
Step 1
Preheat a griddle to high and quickly sear the pork. Transfer to a plate. Cover with foil and set aside to rest. Place the lettuce, cucumber, spring onions, chilli, mint, coriander, basil, peanuts and lime leaves in a large bowl. Slice the pork into ribbons and add to the salad. Gently mix in the remaining dressing.
