Beef, Red Onion Tamarind Salad

This summery salad with an Asian twist can be created in almost no time at all and tastes delicious. Perfect for casual entertaining!
The recipe comes from “A Taste of Home,” a new cookbook by New Zealand’s first MasterChef winner Brett McGregor. Full of tasty, fresh and easily achievable recipes, it is perfect for the home cook.

Beef, Red onion and Tamarind Salad

I was lucky enough to join some fellow adventurers in late 2012 for a foodies trip to Vietnam. This recipe is one we learned at a cooking school in Ho Chi Minh City or Saigon. It is a very tasty little salad; I’ve just added a couple of ingredients to beef it up a little. This is also great with watercress, which adds a delicious peppery note that goes brilliantly with the sour taste of the tamarind.
Prep time 10 minutes
Cook time 7 minutes
Serves 4
Ingredients
500g beef fillet or sirloin, thinly sliced
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 tsp sugar
2 tbsp tamarind pulp mixed with 2 tbsp water
squeeze of 1 lemon or lime
2 red onions, thinly sliced
2 cups rocket
½ cup fresh coriander
2 tbsp crispy shallots to garnish
1 red chilli, finely sliced, to garnish
Method 
Place the beef in a bowl and season with salt, pepper and half the sugar. Leave for a minute while you heat a frying pan to high.
In another bowl, whisk together the tamarind mixture, lemon or lime juice and remaining sugar.
Throw the beef into the hot pan and cook quickly. Remove from the heat when seared nicely and add to the dressing. Add the onion, rocket and coriander, season and combine. Serve garnished with crispy shallots and sliced chilli.

Reproduced with permission from: A Taste of Home by Brett McGregor. Photograph by Aaron McLean. Imprint RHNZ. RRP $45.00

I reviewed this for The Breeze Radio Station Website
 http://www.thebreeze.co.nz/