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Here’s the thing about salad… and Mondays.
Yes, they are typical to put together, BUT the way I do it is it a little different than the way some may do it.
Monday’s can be pretty rough (at least for me), so instead of a salad with boring lettuce and a dressing that lacks flavor, you know, the ones that make you wish it was Friday again and eating the cheesiest of pizzas. The way I do a salad is worthy of a Friday night meal…but still healthy!
Because in my opinion, that is the only way to do salad. And Monday.
Deliciously!!
This salad has some of my all time favorite flavors. Especially now that it is summer, Thai food just screams summer food to me.
I mean can we just look at the beautiful colors going on in this salad for a second? Gosh, I just love the colors. They make me smile.
So, there is kind of a lot going on here.
Let’s just start with the salad base. I was at the grocery store and they had this huge box of baby kale with an even huger (is that a word?) mark down sticker on it. Of course I had to go check it out. You guys, this baby kale was the cutest. Not a bad leaf in sight. Obviously, I snatched that box up before anyone else even knew it was there.
But then, when I got home, I didn’t know what to do with the baby kale. I thought “Oh NO! I have all this cute baby kale. What do I do with it?”.
From there I just decided to throw it in a big bowl and stare at it for a while. Then I went to the pantry, grabbed a handful of my all-time favorite Thai ingredients (my homemade sweet Thai chili sauce included – because I cannot get enough of it) and started mixing things. Then I knew I was going Thai all way with this one.
I had also bought some flank steak at the store, so that was going in too. Aside from the steak there had to be tons and tons of veggies. I can never get enough veggies and fruits – love them, but I bet you already knew that.
I also threw in some hard-boiled eggs because I had some in the fridge since my little sister Asher eats like six a day. NO JOKE. The little five-year old loves hard-boiled eggs. Honestly, she practically survives off them. We better hope those little chickens of ours can seriously crank out the eggs. We shall see soon…
Once I had all the veggies and kale in a bowl, I just looked at it. It seemed to be missing an element. Then I remembered the edamame in the freezer. YES. Just what the salad needed.
FYI, I recommend buying the shelled edamame. I think I spent thirty minutes of my day shelling edamame. So boring.
For the dressing I wanted to keep it simple and light, but still somewhat creamy. I went with a tahini based dressing because I never use tahini and wanted to do something a little different. So glad I did, this dressing is one of my most favorites. It is so good. If you are a dressing lover, I highly recommend doubling it. You are going to want it all for yourself.
As for the cashews? Well, I think every salad needs a good crunch factor and nuts are my go to. Especially cashews, they are my favorite. So to top it all off, I took my cashews and went and added some sesame oil, chili powder and lime to the mix. Pure perfection atop a salad if you ask me.
Wow, I am realizing I just talked your ear off about this salad. And on a Monday too! Ugh. So sorry, I am clearly very excited about this meal. It’s a new favorite and I know it may seem like it has a lot of ingredients, but I promise the recipe comes together so quickly. TRUST ME. You have to try this one.
Thai Steak Salad w/Sweet + Spicy Tahini Dressing and Sesame Chili-Lime Cashews.
Servings: 6 Servings
Calories Per Serving: 471 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
Cashews
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 1/3 cups raw cashews
- 1-2 teaspoons honey
- 1 lime zested
Steak +Dressing
- 1 pound flank steak
- 2 limes juiced + the zest of 1 lime
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce don't be afraid!
- 2 tablespoons ponzu sauce (or soy sauce but ponzu sauce is best and works better here)
- 2-3 tablespoons sweet thai chili sauce I used 3 tablespoons
- 1-2 cloves garlic minced or grated (depending on you taste, I used 1)
- 1 tablespoon fresh ginger grated
- 2-3 tablespoons tahini (may sub peanut butter but I loved the tahini), sesame seed paste
Salad
- 4 cups baby kale or other dark leafy green
- 1 ounce bag frozen shelled edamame defrosted and cooked for 3-5 min. in boiling water, 16
- 3 carrots shredded or chopped
- 2 bell peppers (red yellow and or orange), sliced thin
- 1 cup fresh or frozen mango chopped into chunks
- 2 lemongrass stalks chopped
- 4 green onions chopped
- 3/4 cups of fresh basil cilantro and mint (I only used 1/3 cup mint)
- 4 hard boiled eggs chopped (optional)
- 1/4 cup black and/or white sesame seeds toasted
Instructions
Cashews
- Heat a small skillet over medium heat and add the sesame oil, cashews and chili powder, toss well. Cook over medium heat until lightly toasted and browned, about five minutes. During the last minute of cooking add in the honey (I used 2 tablespoons). Remove from the heat and add the lime zest and 1 tablespoon black sesame seeds. Toss well and set aside.
The Rest
- Add the steak to a glass pyrex dish or gallon size ziplock bag.
- In a glass measuring cup or bowl whisk together the lime juice + zest, fish sauce, ponzu sauce, sweet thai chili sauce, garlic and ginger. Pour about 1/4 -1/3 of the dressing over the steak, cover or seal the bag and place in the fridge while you prep the rest of the salad, at least 15 minutes (the longer the better).
- Meanwhile add the tahini to a small bowl and microwave until melted and smooth, about 15-20 seconds. Add the melted tahini to the dressing, whisk until smooth. Taste and add more tahini or sweet thai chili sauce to your liking, set aside.
- In a large bowl add the kale, edamame, carrots, bell peppers, mango chunks, lemon grass and green onions. Give it all a good toss.
- Heat a grill or grill pan to high heat.
- Once hot sear the steak for 5-8 minutes, flip and sear another 5 minutes or until your desired doneness is reached. Remove the steak and allow to rest 5 minutes. Slice steak thinly against the grain and add to the salad. Add the dressing and remaining sesame seeds. Toss to coat and massage the dressing into the veggies for 1-2 minutes. Add the eggs and cashews. Serve warm or cover and place in the fridge until ready to eat. I personally love this served warm.
Notes
*You can add the dressing just before serving or add it and let the salad sit in the fridge a few hours. The kale holds up nicely and the flavors have a chance to mend together in the fridge, but I love this salad slightly warm!
I can guarantee it will spice up your Monday!
I have a few questions:
1. When do you add the basil cilantro and mint?
2. When do you warm up the vegetables? (I’m assuming they get cooked since there are frozen bananas)
3. Is there a way to make tahini sauce at home I couldn’t find it at the stores 🙂
Thank you!
Hi Denise!
1. You add the herbs with the salad and toss all together!
2. There is no frozen banana, but there is frozen mango! Just let that defrost or use fresh if you’d like!
3. I have never made tahini on my own, so I can’t say for sure! So sorry
Hope this helps! xT
This recipe is yummy – the dressing is very interesting and yummy. I’m not sure about the lemongrass though. I’ve only ever used it cooked into curries and such. It was very hard to chew and not enjoyable in this salad, so I researched it on the internet and came across several suggestions to blanche it before using. Either way, I think I might just add it to the dressing next time. Great recipe though!
Hey Suzanne,
Awesome!! Thanks a lot for giving this recipe a try and sharing your review! Love to hear that it was enjoyed! Sorry about the lemongrass! Have a great weekend!☀️ xx
Great salad, yummy flavors!!
Thanks so much Julie! xTieghan
Loved this salad! Made it for dinner last night and we all loved it! Thank you for the recipe!
Thank you Mary! xTieghan
This is probably one of the best salads I’ve ever had in my life. and THOSE CASHEWS!! My god, so good!
I am so glad you loved this Tess! Thank you so much! xTieghan
Hi I’m curious what size to cut the lemongrass is a big chunks or chopped into tiny pieces thanks for your help
HI! The lemongrass should be very finely chopped. So very tiny pieces. Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe. Thanks so much!! xTieghan ?
I made this and it turned out absolutely beautifully!
I am usually a terrible cook, but your recipes are foolproof with both their ingredients and instructions.
Thank you thank you thank you.
This looks amazing and I can’t wait to try it! Can I substitute oyster sauce for the fish sauce please?
HI! It’s not really that same, but I think it will be fine. Hope you love this salad!
This was incredible! Definitely a recipe that was the sum of all parts – will be making this again for sure. Thanks for sharing.
Well, the salad looks delicious so I decided to print it and make the salad, but am I the only to notice where’s the steak? It’s called steak salad, but I can’t find the steak in this recipe. Otherwise looks delicious.
I AM SO SORRY!! I cannot believe I left that out. You need 1 pound of flank steak. Hope you love the salad!
Hi Tieghan,
Just did your salad last night!!! OMG, loved it, and it turned as pretty as yours, soooo proud of myself and of course of you!
It took me longer than expected, but really worthy it, I already gave the recipe and your site to a coworker and she will do it on the weekend.
My only regret? I FORGOT TO TAKE A PIC!!!
Love your blog, Cheers, from Toronto
Yuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuum
Every one must try.
This salad looks so good that I decided to make this tomorrow for some friends and me. Since there is a vegetarian amongst my friends, could I use prawns instead? Or do you have another suggestion to make this meat-free?