Recipe: Thai Grilled Steak Salad With Rice Noodles

Thai restaurants have introduced our palates to new flavors and sauces. This recipe offers the best of Thai cooking with little fat, and less of the sodium you’ll find in restaurants. Not a fan of red meat? Replace the flank steak with chicken breast or tofu. (For the sugar substitute, try stevia.)

Ingredients

Marinade

3 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 tablespoons Thai fish sauce (nam pla)
1 packet of sugar substitute

Salad

3/4 pound flank steak
3 ounces rice stick noodles
1/2 cucumber (about 4 ounces), halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
4 cups mixed greens
1/4 cup chopped fresh mint
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
1 tablespoon chopped dry-roasted peanuts

Sauce

3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon Thai fish sauce
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1/2 teaspoon sugar substitute
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, or to taste

Directions

1. Combine ingredients for marinade in a shallow bowl. Add flank steak, cover and marinate in the refrigerator for 4 hours or up to 24 hours, turning once.
2. Light the grill or preheat the broiler. Lightly coat the grill rack with cooking spray.
3. To make the sauce: Place 1/4 cup water, garlic, fish sauce, lime juice, sugar substitute and red pepper flakes in a food processor or blender. Pulse until well-combined; set aside.
4. Place noodles in a deep bowl. Cover with warm water and soak for 10 minutes. While noodles soak, bring a pot of water to a boil. Drain noodles, then place in boiling water for 2 to 4 minutes, until cooked through. Drain, rinse under cold running water and drain again. Set aside.
5. Remove steak from marinade. Score the meat in a cross-hatched pattern, and grill until done, about 8 minutes per side for medium. Transfer steak to a carving board, and let rest for 10 minutes before cutting diagonally into very thin slices.
6. To assemble salad: Divide cucumber, greens, mint and basil evenly among 4 dinner plates. Mound noodles in the center of each plate, and top with equal portions of the steak slices. Toss with sauce. Garnish with peanuts.

Nutrition information (per serving):

Makes 4 servings

Calories: 240 (12.5% calories from fat)
Total fat: 6 g
Saturated fat: 2 g
Protein: 21 g
Carbohydrate: 23 g
Dietary fiber: 2 g
Cholesterol: 30 mg
Sodium: 637 mg
Potassium: 607 mg

Source: Cleveland Clinic Healthy Heart Lifestyle Guide and Cookbook (© 2007 Broadway Books).