Leftovers with Nigella

Saturday brought some accidentally defrosted steak - so what to do with it? I ventured into a cookbook I have had for a while (I bought it from my friend Roisin before I left Frankfurt) but somehow have never used before: Nigella Bites (2001 edition).

I leafed to the "Templefood" section - in the sense of "my body is a". Right at the back of a book with some pretty great (but indulgent) recipes, these are delicious but slightly less guilt inducing.


So I went for the Vietnamese chicken and mint salad (however used beef, which works just as well). Use:


1 chilli, seeded and finely chopped
1 large garlic clove, peeled and crushed (I used a couple more)
1 tablespoon of sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons of rice vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 1/2 tablespoons Vietnamese or Thai fish sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Half a medium onion, finely sliced (I used a shallot)
freshly ground black pepper
200g white cabbage, shredded
1 medium carrot, shredded
200g cooked chicken breast,finely sliced (as above - I used 200g beef)
Large bunch of mint, roughly chopped


I made the dressing first - mixing the chilli, garlic, sugar,vinegar, lime juice, fish sauce, oil, onion and a bit of pepper to taste. That got put to one side while I did the rest (and smelt beautiful)

I then brushed the beef steaks (rump) with oil and ground pepper and grilled until they were tender. I left them to cool while I grated the cabbage and carrot on a mandolin.
Once that was done, I finely sliced the beef very finely and roughly chopped the mint, before mixing together all the ingredients in a bowl.


I then poured the dressing over the mixed ingredients and slowly and gently folded them together with a spatula. This is important so that they don't turn to mush. Once incorporated, the salad tasted beautiful - this is probably one of the simplest dishes I've made recently, and will be featuring in my lunchbox regularly in the next few weeks!!