Denise says:

  • This a refreshing light lunch or side dish that I like to make when I feel ‘something’ different is needed for the weekly meals! It is quick, easy and never fails to please! Try it !
  • If you are not a fan of tofu, use cooked chicken as a substitute. I learnt about blanching the chillies in a Thai cookery class – you still get all the flavour but this removes some of the heat.
  • NB: The NHS currently advises only eating raw beansprouts if they're labelled 'ready to eat'; all other bean sprouts should be cooked thoroughly until steaming hot throughout.
  • People in vulnerable groups are advised to cook all bean sprouts until steaming hot throughout before eating.
 
  • Preparation Time: 25 minutes
  • Cooking Time: 15 minutes
  • Serves: 4 people
 

Ingredients:

  • For the salad
  • 100g green beans
  • 1 small pineapple
  • 200g smoked tofu/ plain tofu  - or 2 large cooked chicken breasts – cubed or sliced
  • 1 tablespoon rapeseed oil
  • Small bunch fresh mint – leaves only
  • ½ bunch fresh coriander – leaves only
  • 100g  'ready to eat' bean sprouts or cook for 3 minutes
  • 50g honey roasted peanuts – roughly chopped
  • 150g cherry tomatoes – halved
  • For the dressing
  • 1 red chilli – deseeded and finely chopped
  • 1 tablespoon palm sugar – or soft light brown sugar
  • 2 cloves garlic – peeled and finely chopped
  • ½ bunch coriander – roughly chopped
  • 2 limes – zest and juice
  • 1 teaspoon soya sauce
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil

Method

  1. Bring a saucepan of water to the boil and blanch the beans for 1 minute. Drain, refresh under cold water and set aside.
  2. Peel the pineapple and cut through the core into quarters.  Cut out and discard the core, then thinly slice.
  3. Heat a griddle pan until very hot. Brush the pineapple with rapeseed oil and cook for 2 minutes each side until charred and just starting to soften. Set aside.
  4. Add beans sprouts to the frying pan and cook for 3 minutes, then set aside.
  5. For the dressing, put the chilli into boiling water and set aside for 5 minutes.  Put the sugar, garlic and coriander into a mortar and pound to a paste with a pestle. (use a rolling pin on top of a chopping board if you don’t have a mortar).  Stir in the remaining dressing ingredients and take to make sure you have a good balance of hot, sweet, sour and salty – adjust with more chilli, sugar, lime or soya sauce.
  6. Slice the tofu and pile onto a platter with the remaining salad ingredients.
  7. To serve:  Drizzle the dressing and toss together when ready to eat.
Tagged in: Cherry Tomatoes, chilli, fresh coriander, Green Beans, Lime, Lunch, pineapple, Roasted peanuts, Side dish, soya sauce, Thai, Tofu, Vegan, Vegetarian