Lemongrass Beef Skewers with Vietnamese Noodle Salad
Serves: 2
Time: approx 30 mins
This is a super fresh and very tasty dish. I’m using eye fillet which is an expensive choice. You could alternatively use a cut of meat called pillow steak which is relatively cheap but still lovely and soft to eat. Perfect meat for something like skewers (making it a great choice for the BBQ).
Leftovers
I’m only getting enough meat for dinner but if you wanted, you could double the meat as there are plenty of noodles.
What you'll need
400g beef eye fillet
1/2 lemongrass stick
2 cloves of garlic
1 medium sized piece of ginger about the length of your thumb
1 x 200g packet vermicelli noodles
1 carrot
1/2 red onion
1 lime
1/3 bunch of mint
1/4 bunch of coriander
2 tablespoons of peanut butter
100ml coconut milk
2 tablespoons of sweet chili sauce (not essential)
1/2 cup of salted peanuts
2 red Birdseye chillies
skewers
From the pantry
coconut oil
3 tablespoons of fish sauce
sesame oil
salt and pepper
Optional Extras For Lunch
400g extra beef for skewers
Skewers
Personally I like the metal skewers, mostly for the practicality and also the style. They aren't always in a supermarket though so if you are using bamboo just remember you will need to soak them in water first.
Prep and Cook
Soak Noodles
Boil a jug of water and empty the noodles into a large bowl. Completely cover the noodles with boiling water.
Leave to soften.
Once they are cool and soft, drain off the excess water and chop the noodles down a bit with kitchen scissors.
Marinate Meat
Cut your beef into large bite sized pieces, all of a similar size.
Finely grate the lemongrass, 1/2 of your ginger and 1 clove of garlic over the meat and toss together with a splash of sesame oil.
Season well with salt and pepper.
Skewer the meat - I have gone with 3 pieces to a skewer.
Prep Salad
Peel and finely slice carrot and onion.
Wash and rip up the mint leaves and coriander.
Roughly chop peanuts.
Finely slice red chili.
Make Dressing
Mix 1 tablespoon of fish sauce with 1/2 the juice of a lime, 2 cloves of garlic and grate the remainder of your ginger.
Add sesame oil to taste.
Mix together with some salt and pepper.
Whats your peanut butter
Different peanut butters will melt better than others. I am using a natural peanut butter which is perfect for a satay sauce and hardly requires any heat to make it smooth down.
Make Satay Sauce
Combine the peanut butter with 1 tablespoon of fish sauce and 100ml of coconut milk. Do this in a microwave safe bowl and heat at 30 second intervals, stirring between each until smooth. (If you have sweet chilli sauce in the house it works really well in a satay sauce but isn’t essential).
Squeeze over juice from the other 1/2 of lime and mix well.
Cook Skewers
Heat a tablespoon of coconut oil in a non stick fry pan on a high heat (or if it’s nice outside then the hot plate on the BBQ).
Cook each side for just under a minute (I have cut cubes so there are 4 sides) - long enough to brown the outside.
Once cooked, take the pan off the heat and prop the skewers up against the rim so that the meat isn’t touching the pan and rest for 2 minutes.
Plate It Pretty
Take two large handfuls of the vermicelli noodles and mix with the rest of your salad ingredients along with the dressing. Then use your hands build up a nice pile of the salad over 2/3 of your plate.
Sprinkle with roughly chopped peanuts and finely sliced chilli.
Prop skewers up beside and either drizzle with the satay sauce or serve on the side as a dipping sauce.
Enjoy!
Lunch tomorrow
Did you get extra meat for leftovers? Lunch tomorrow will just be a simplified version of tonight’s dinner with the meat, noodles and sauce. We had a lot of cabbage left over from the burgers so I added that in for some veg.