Serves 2 as a main course or 4 as a starter
The Chinese trinity of soy sauce, ginger, and garlic one of my absolute favourites, it’s the background flavour that makes this salad so addictive.
Ingredients
- 250 grams |8 oz steak, roughly 2 cm | 1 inch thick
- 200 grams | 7 oz fine green beans, topped and tailed and cut into 2 inch lengths
- 1 red pepper, deseeded and thinly sliced lengthways
- 1 large or 2 small shallots peeled and very thinly sliced lengthways
- 1 red chilli, finally chopped, seeds removed for a milder taste
- 10 grams | ½ oz fresh ginger, thinly sliced and cut into matchsticks
- 4 tablespoons light soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons dark soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons Chinese black vinegar*1
- 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon soft brown sugar
- ¼ teaspoon timur*2
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds
Method
Lightly oil and sear the steak on a very hot skillet, 2-3 minutes each side, don’t move the steak around as you want caramelised lines on the outside and the steak is cooked medium rare. Set the steak to one side to cool. Place the beans into a pan of boiling salted water and cook until they are just soft. Drain the beans and plunge them into cold water for 1 minute, drain them and set them aside to cool further.
While the steak and beans are cooling mix the chopped chilli, ginger, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, sugar, timur, and sesame seeds, together in a bowl. Once the steak is cooled slice it into thin strips and add the strips to the dressing stir well then add all the remaining ingredients and stir again. Check for salt and add more if needed, allow the salad to stand for one hour before serving.
*1 If you don’t have Chinese black vinegar us Balsamic vinegar and leave the sugar out
*2 If you don’t have timur you can use Sichuan pepper instead