Thai Beef Salad

Who doesn't love the freshness of Thai flavours?  The balance of hot, salty, sweet and sour?  This is my version of a Thai classic.....soft noodles, fresh salad, crunchy peanuts and melt in your mouth beef = food heaven!!

To make this salad a huge success and not just a mild success, beef fillet is a must.  I know it is expensive but in a salad a little goes a long way......

You will need:

Serves 2

250gm of beef fillet
12 snow peas, topped, tailed and stringed
12 cherry tomatoes, halved ( a mixture of yellow and red looks great, but is not essential)
1/2 a lebanese cucumber, cut in half and sliced diagonally
1/2 a cup of coriander leaves
1/2 a cup of mint leaves
220gm packet of fresh rice stick noodles
1/2 cup of roasted, unsalted peanuts
1/2 a long red chilli, sliced diagonally
2 kaffir lime leaves, very finely sliced
1/2 a red onion, finely sliced
Salt and pepper

For the dressing:

1/4 cup of peanut oil
1/4 cup of white vinegar
1 tbs fish sauce
2 tbs castor sugar
2 tbs soy sauce

For the dressing, combine all the ingredients in a small bowl and whisk to combine, set aside.

Heat a griddle or frying pan until hot.  Season and lightly oil the beef fillet and sear in the pan for about 2 minutes on each side.  Remove from the pan and allow to rest. Once rested, slice the beef into thin strips.

Prepare noodles according to packet instructions.

In a small bowl, top the snow peas with boiling water for approximately 2 minutes or until bright green in colour but still really crunchy.  Drain and rinse under cold water.

In a large bowl combine the noodles, snow peas, cucumber, mint and coriander leaves, red onion, peanuts and beef fillet.  Add 2/3 of the dressing and toss to combine.  Divide the salad evenly between the two plates and top with the chilli slices and shredded kaffir lime leaves.  Drizzle with the remaining dressing and devour with gusto!