The inspiration for this salad comes from Korea, Japan and Vietnam. The ginger, wasabi, sesame and soy dressing for this pretty salad does double duty as a marinade. Then once the steak has been perfectly cooked on the grill, it’s tossed with lots of crunchy, fresh veggies and drizzled with its lively dressing. The result is pretty spectacular.
The salad is perfect like it is but once in awhile when I make it (it’s a regular on the menu in my household), I’ll add mung bean vermicelli noodles or some thin rice stick noodles to the salad for a change.
Admittedly there’s quite a bit of prep in this recipe with the chopping, grating and slicing but it’s well worth it. Once you’ve done the prep work, all that’s left for you to do is to throw the steak on the barbie and toss everything together.
I used skirt steak in this recipe, use whatever either takes your fancy or is on sale. The trick is to slice it thinly before marinating it and grilling. Grilling will only take a few minutes ensuring the steak will be tender. I hope you give it a shot. This is one of my most favorite salads whether I’m serving it up for just the two of us or adding it to a menu for entertaining. I hope it becomes one of your favorites too. xo
A HANDY PINTEREST PIC FOR YOU TO SHARE WITH YOUR FRIENDS AND FOLLOWERS
- WASABI GINGER SALAD DRESSING & MARINADE
- 1/3 cup seasoned rice vinegar
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons sesame seed oil
- 2 tablespoons olive or canola oil
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 tablespoon wasabi paste
- 2 tablespoons grated ginger
- 2 tablespoons Thai sweet chili sauce
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- STEAK SALAD
- 2 lbs (907g) skirt steak
- 4 oz (113g) snow peas, cut julienne
- 3 cups thinly shredded red cabbage
- 2 cups chopped romaine (cos) lettuce
- 2 cups coarsely grated carrot
- 3 small cucumbers, halved crossways and cut into strips
- 1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions
- 1/3 cup cilantro (coriander) leaves
- 1/3 cup mint leaves
- toasted, chopped cashews, for garnish
- For the dressing: Place all the dressing/marinade ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Place half of the mixture into a re-sealable plastic bag or shallow dish, this will become the marinade for the steak. Place the remaining mixture in a sealed jar in the fridge until ready to use, this will become the dressing for the salad.
- For the salad: Remove the tough membrane from steak. Cut steak on an angle, against the grain, into about 1/4 inch (6mm) thick slices (these will be like mini steaks). Add steak to marinade and toss to ensure an even coating. Seal bag (or cover dish) and refrigerate 30 minutes or a few hours if time permits.
- Place julienned snow peas into a small pot of salted boiling water for 10 seconds, stirring gently until bright green; drain. Place peas in a bowl of iced water; let stand 5 to 10 minutes until cold and bright; drain well.
- Barbecue steak slices on hot, greased grill for 1 to 2 minutes per side until steak is has grill marks and is cooked to about medium-rare or medium (or to your liking). You want to get a little charring on the steak without over-cooking the inside.
- Toss peas, cabbage, lettuce, carrot, cucumbers, green onions, cilantro and mint together in a large bowl. Drizzle with three-quarters of the remaining dressing; toss to coat. Arrange steak over salad; drizzle with remaining dressing. Sprinkle with cashews if desired.
I'd love to hear from you