Sesame 'Shaking' Beef and Vietnamese
Rainbow Salad

I love this Vietnamese-influenced dish as it's pretty easy to whip up from readily available ingredients. The recipe I've chosen to enter is based on a celebratory dish well regarded in Vietnam called Thit bo luc lac, but with my own spin. Some Vietnamese foods have been poorly translated into English and Thit bo luc lac is one of them. 'Thit bo' means beef and 'luc lac' refers to the 'shaking' of the wok to cook the small pieces of meat. My own version of this dish includes a popular vermicelli salad to balance out the flavours and add colour.

Serves

4

Ingredients

Vietnamese Rainbow Salad

• ½ 125g packet Trident Rice Vermicelli

• 1 red capsicum

• 1 carrot

• Small red onion

• 1 cucumber

• 410g can Trident Baby Corn Spears

• Trident Sweet Chilli Sauce

• ½ bunch fresh coriander, chopped

• ½ bunch fresh mint, chopped

Sesame Shaking Beef

• 2 tablespoons peanut oil

• 2 tablespoons garlic, chopped finely

• ½ 50g packet Trident Red Curry Paste

• 600g beef fillet or sirloin, cut into 1 inch cubes

• 6 tablespoons Trident Coconut Cream

• Sesame seeds, to garnish

Instructions:

• Place the Trident Rice Vermicelli in boiling water until ready. Drain and place in a large mixing bowl.

• Slice the capsicum, carrot, onion and cucumber into thin strips and chop the Trident Baby Corn Spears into smaller chunks. Toss through the Trident Rice Vermicelli and stir in the Trident Sweet Chilli Sauce (as little or as much as you like) followed by the fresh coriander and mint. Arrange onto plates or bowls and set aside.

• Heat the oil in a wok over high heat. Add the chopped garlic, and stir-fry for a minute.

• Add half of a packet of the Trident Red Curry Paste and stir-fry for a few minutes to release the flavours in the paste.

• Add the beef and let the meat sear for about 1 minute, before shaking the wok to sear on the other sides.

• Add the Trident Coconut Cream, one tablespoon at a time. Stir-fry for another
  30 seconds or so and shake.

• Cook the beef for about 4 minutes in total, until nicely browned and medium rare.

• When the beef is cooked, place the beef on top of the salad. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve.