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Asian salad with pork

ASIAN SALAD WITH PORK

Catalina T
This Asian salad with pork is loaded with flavour & texture, you'll get a taste explosion from the lemongrass, chilli, lime & caramelised pork
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Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Course Appetizer, Salad
Cuisine Asian
Servings 4 servings
Calories 545 kcal

Ingredients
 
 

SPICE MIX

  • 2 lemongrass (soft parts only) (NOTE 1)
  • 1 inch ginger (peeled)
  • 2 cloves garlic (peeled)
  • 2 small red chilli

FOR THE PAN:

  • 1 tbsp peanut oil (NOTE 2)
  • 500 gm pork mince (ground pork)
  • 75 gm palm sugar (roughly chopped) (NOTE 3)
  • 1 tbsp fish sauce
  • 1 tbsp light soy sauce
  • 1 lime (juice only) (NOTE 4)

FOR THE SALAD:

  • 250 gm cherry tomatoes (halved)
  • 2 Lebanese cucumbers (halved and sliced) (NOTE 5)
  • ½ small red onion (sliced thinly)
  • 1 bunch of coriander (leaves only)
  • 1 bunch of mint (leaves only)
  • ¼ cup crushed unsalted peanuts
  • 2 small chilli (sliced)

Instructions
 

  • Using a blender or food processor pulse and blend the spice ingredients until very finely. A mortar and pestle can also be used or chop finely with a knife.
  • Prepare the salad ingredients by washing and slicing the herbs and vegetables. Transfer the salad into a large bowl but leave out the peanuts .
    Asian salad with pork
  • Heat up oil in a frypan on medium to high heat, add in the spice mix and cook for a minute stirring quickly. Add in the pork and break it up. Cook the pork until brown and cooked through, add in the fish sauce soy sauce and palm sugar. Cook until the sugar has dissolved and the pork has caramelised.
    Asian salad with pork
  • Take the pork of the stove and add in the lemon juice and stir to combine. Transfer the pork into the salad bowl and mix gently. Place the salad onto a serving plate and top it off with the peanuts and chilli.
    Asian salad with pork

Notes

NOTE 1: Lemongrass - I have written a helpful post on HOW TO PREPARE LEMONGRASS if you are unfamiliar with how to prepare it.
NOTE 2: Oil - I prefer using peanut oil in Asian cooking as it adds a subtle nutty flavour but vegetable, canola oil or rice bran can be used instead. 
NOTE 3: Palm sugar - Can be found sold in Asian specialty stores and some supermarkets do stock them. They are sold in big block or tablespoon-sized circles. Palm sugar can be substituted with brown sugar.
NOTE 4: Lime - It's more traditional in Southeast Asian cuisines to use limes, but on this occasion, I used lemon. Why? because limes were $3 each! (USD 2.20) at my supermarket so I grudgingly got lemons instead.
NOTE 5: Cucumber - My favourite type of cucumber is Lebanese, as there is no need to peel them before eating. The texture is also crisper than other varieties. To reduce the water content, I removed the seeds before slicing.
 
 
 

Nutrition

Serving: 1servingCalories: 545kcalCarbohydrates: 34gProtein: 27gFat: 35gSaturated Fat: 11gCholesterol: 90mgSodium: 728mgPotassium: 992mgFiber: 3gSugar: 20gVitamin A: 1069IUVitamin C: 89mgCalcium: 65mgIron: 3mg