Vietnamese pork salad
- Preparation and cooking time
- Total time
- Ready in 1 hour - 1 hour 10 mins
- Easy
- Serves 6
Ingredients
For the dressing
- 1 tsp golden caster sugar
- juice of 2 limes
- 1 fresh red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
- a handful of coriander stems or roots, chopped
- 1 tbsp each sesame oil, Thai fish sauce and light soy sauce
- 50g sesame seeds, dry roasted until golden
For the salad
- 500g pork tenderloin, trimmed of fat
- vegetable oil, for brushing
- ¼ white cabbage, shredded
- 1 cucumber, cut into matchsticks
- 5 celery stalks, cut into matchsticks
- 3 spring onions, finely sliced
- 1 red chilli, seeded and finely chopped
- 2 trimmed stems of lemongrass, finely sliced
- zest of 1 lime
- a handful each of coriander and mint leaves, chopped
Method
- STEP 1
The day before: make the dressing. Put the sugar and lime juice in a pan with 1 tbsp water and bring to the boil to dissolve the sugar. Add the chilli and coriander and stir well, then pulse in a blender until smooth. Tip into a bowl, then stir in the sesame oil, fish sauce, soy sauce and sesame seeds to make a dressing. Cover and chill until needed.
- STEP 2
Two hours before serving: heat a griddle pan. Preheat the oven to 200C/gas 6/fan 180C. Brush the pork with oil and griddle on all sides for a few minutes until seared. Transfer to a baking tray and put in the oven for about 10-12 minutes until cooked through. Cool, thinly slice against the grain of the meat. Tip into a bowl and pour over half the dressing.
- STEP 3
To serve: toss the remaining salad ingredients in a bowl with the remaining dressing. Pile on to a platter, top with the pork slices and spoon over any juices.