Thai-Style Beef Salad with Orange Sesame Dressing

This main course salad has an intriguing Asian-inspired dressing and the thin rice noodles give it a light texture. Use a good-quality steak, making sure you don’t overcook it. Substitute chicken, seafood, or firm tofu for the beef, if you like. Use the dressing as a marinade for chicken, pork or fish. Rice vermicelli is available in higher quality supermarkets or Asian markets. It is made with rice flour and comes in different thicknesses. It’s great for those who are allergic to wheat.

RECIPE INSTRUCTIONS
1. Spray a non-stick grill pan with cooking oil and place over medium heat. Cook the steak for 5 to 8 minutes, or until done to your taste, turning once. (Or grill on a barbecue preheated to medium-high.) Cool. Slice thinly.

2. Pour boiling water over the rice noodles. Let stand for 5 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water.

3. Combine the rice noodles, salad greens, snow peas, red pepper, water chestnuts, mandarin oranges, sweet onion, green onion and sliced steak in a large serving bowl.

4. To make the dressing, whisk the juice concentrate, sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, oil, garlic, ginger, chili sauce and salt in a small bowl.

5. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss to mix well. Garnish with cilantro.

INGREDIENTS
8 oz boneless grilling steak
2 oz thin rice vermicelli
4 cups torn, mixed salad greens
1 cup finely chopped snow peas
1 cup thinly sliced red bell pepper
1/2 cup sliced canned water chestnuts, drained
1/2 cup canned mandarin oranges, drained
1/3 cup chopped sweet onion
1/4 cup chopped green onion
2 Tbsp orange juice concentrate
1 1/2 Tbsp packed brown sugar
2 Tbsp rice vinegar
2 Tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
2 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp minced fresh garlic
1/2 tsp minced fresh ginger
1/2 tsp hot Asian chili sauce
pinch of salt
1/3 cup chopped cilantro or parsley

NOTES
Nutritional Analysis per Serving

Calories 166
Protein 11 g
Fat 3.8 g
Saturated Fat 1 g
Carbohydrates 22 g
Cholesterol 24 mg
Sodium 172 mg
Fiber 2.2 g

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 8 minutes

Make Ahead: Make dressing 3 days in advance and refrigerate. Prepare salad early in the day and refrigerate. Toss together just before serving.

Serves 6

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