Preparation
45 minutes
Cooking
5 minutes
Difficulty
Easy
A very easy-to-make mixed salad like the watercress salad with beef is a must-try when you go to the kitchen to prepare. With the fresh and crispy flavor of watercress, the fragrant and tender beef will make your whole family fall in love. Let’s check out the recipe below with TasteVN!
Ingredients for Watercress Salad with Beef Serves 3 people
Beef 100 gr Watercress 160 gr Onion 1/4 bulb Tomato 1 fruit Garlic 8 cloves Vinegar 4 tablespoons Soy sauce 1/2 tablespoon Oyster sauce 1 teaspoon Cooking oil 3.5 tablespoons Common spices a little (sugar/ salt/ seasoning powder/ ground pepper)
How to choose fresh ingredients
How to choose fresh watercress
- Fresh watercress will have a long thin stem, and when you try to break the stem, a light sticky liquid will appear.
- The easiest to see are the watercress plants with shiny leaves and dark green color, those are the delicious watercress.
- Do not buy watercress plants with crushed leaves, showing deep bite marks or tiny brown or white spots on the leaves.
How to choose fresh beef
- To ensure the piece of beef after cooking is not too greasy due to excess fat or too dry due to too much meat, choose beef with fat interspersed in the lean.
- Gently press on the piece of beef, if you see it dent and quickly return to its original state, then the beef is still fresh, not soft due to being stored for too long.
- Do not buy pieces of beef that are purple or too red, or with unusually yellow fat because fresh beef will have a natural red color, and the veins and fat will be off-white.
How to choose fresh tomatoes
- Fresh tomatoes will have a shiny red skin, look juicy, and you might even see the seeds inside when exposed to sunlight.
- Pay attention to the stem; freshly harvested tomatoes will have a green stem tightly attached to the fruit, while if the stem is wilted or fallen off, it indicates that the tomatoes have been stored for too long.
- Do not buy tomatoes that are too small (except for cherry tomatoes) because those are unripe tomatoes; if they are red, it may be due to being artificially ripened, and they will taste bland and lack distinctive flavor.
How to choose fresh and delicious onions
- Prioritize buying onions that have a round and even shape.
- The fresher the onion, the more small roots will grow out; if this root part has fallen off completely, it is usually an onion that has been stored for a long time.
- Do not buy onions that have loose skins that do not cling tightly to the bulb, as this skin will dry out over time and can easily separate if harvested for a long time.
How to prepare Watercress Salad with Beef
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Prepare the vegetables
With 1/4 onion, after washing it clean and peeling off the skin, slice it thinly. Next, put the onion into a bowl along with 1/2 tablespoon of sugar, 1 tablespoon of vinegar, and 500ml of water, then gently mix well, let the onion soak for 15 minutes, then drain all the water, keeping the onion.
Next, cut off the roots of the watercress, then wash it clean with water and cut it into pieces about the length of a pinky finger.
Then, wash 1 tomato and slice it into thick slices, and chop the remaining 8 cloves of garlic finely.
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Preparation and marinating beef
After buying 100g of beef, you wash it thoroughly and cut it into small pieces.
Proceed to marinate the beef, add the beef to a bowl along with 1 teaspoon of minced garlic, a little ground pepper, 1/3 teaspoon of sugar, 1 teaspoon of oyster sauce, 1/5 teaspoon of seasoning powder, 1/2 tablespoon of cooking oil, then mix well and let the beef marinate for 15 minutes to absorb the spices evenly.
How to clean beef properly, without unpleasant odor
- Method 1: Take a sufficient amount of salt and rub it onto the piece of beef, let it sit for 5 minutes and then rinse with cold water to help reduce the unpleasant odor.
- Method 2: Soak the beef in white wine for 15 minutes and then rinse with clean water to eliminate any odor.
- Method 3: Roast a piece of ginger until cooked, peel off the burnt skin, then pound it finely and rub the ginger onto the beef; the spicy aroma of ginger will overpower the fishy smell of the beef.
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Stir-fry beef
Turn on the stove on low heat, add 3 tablespoons of cooking oil to the pan, when the oil is hot, add the remaining minced garlic to sauté until fragrant, then transfer it to a small bowl, leaving a little garlic oil to stir-fry the beef!
In the pan that is frying, adjust to medium heat, then add the beef, stir well until the beef starts to brown for about 1 minute, then you can turn off the heat.
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Mix the dipping sauce
Add 3 tablespoons of vinegar, 1.5 tablespoons of sugar, 1/4 teaspoon of salt, 1/4 teaspoon of pepper, and 1/2 tablespoon of soy sauce into a bowl, then mix well.
After that, add all the garlic oil, and continue to stir well to combine the mixture.
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Mix the ingredients
Put the watercress and onion into a large bowl, then drizzle the mixed fish sauce evenly over, and using clean hands, gently mix the ingredients together.
Next, add the tomatoes and continue mixing for about 2 minutes to complete. Now, you just need to arrange the vegetables on a plate, then place the slices of beef on top with an appropriate amount to serve your family.
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Final product
So the watercress mixed with beef dish is now ready to enjoy. The salad is incredibly appetizing with fresh ingredients, the watercress is crunchy and sweet, along with the spicy and sour onion, combined with the attractive tomatoes, which pairs perfectly with the tender and fragrant beef.
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Watercress salad with beef is fresh and crunchy, completed in just a few simple steps. Wishing you an easy and successful preparation of this dish!
*Images and recipe reference from the YouTube channel Lina Cooking.
