Steak Salad aka Evil Jungle Salad

Are you all enjoying the Salad theme this month?  I am! I'm digging out an old favorite that I haven't made in quite a while and feel the need to do it real soon! 

I call it a Steak Salad because, well, because it has STEAK in it.

Others call it an Asian Beef Salad because it has soy sauce and sesame oil in the dressing, making it an Asian type dish.

Then the Evil Jungle? Well, that's from Houston's which is WHERE I got the idea for this lovely, all time, must have lunch/dinner and hey, even breakfast once. (Evil Jungle is very very spicy with a Thai undertone to it and mangos and avocado slices to offset the spiciness. I've never been able to replicate 100%)

My steak comes from Costco, and it's in a bag, already cooked, ready to serve. Um, yeah, I know. But it was $12.99 for 2 lbs COOKED and caught me at a weak moment, ok? I had so many visions of what to do with it, and I still may try the others ...

It says NO MSG. That's a good thing, right? Don't see any corn syrup there either. And the list of ingredients starts with BEEF (thankfully!) and ends with dehydrated garlic with 11 ingredients in between, for 13 total. The package also has a "Earth Friendly" statement for the bag itself. Not quite sure what that means, except that they purchase the power in partnership with the Green Power Partnership ... which sort of sounds like a cult =D  ... I've since divided it up into 3 smaller packages and used the new toy in the household to suck the air out of the bags and seal them, tossed in freezer for future goodness.

Ok, on to the process/recipe/instructions ... now that I made you think ...

Assemble your salad:

Lettuce of choice, cut or torn into bite size pieces (I personally cut, I know, it can bruise but I keep it in the Jar) (NOTE: I just bought a little bit of loose leaf stuff ... total cost? $1.25 for those 2 bags)
Baby spinach leaves
shredded cabbage (or just grab a bag of coleslaw and use some of that ... didn't have)
Fresh chopped herbs such as parsley, basil, cilantro, mint, your choice
chopped cucumbers (if seeded, run spoon through seeds to remove extra moisture and seeds ... completely forgot to add the cukes this time!)
sliced sweet peppers

  

Adding mint and cilantro to the greens is a nice surprise

If you have on hand, add some diced mango and/or avocado ... I normally don't have both but so glad I stopped and picked them up ... makes a HUGE difference in flavors ...

 Add the following in jar with tight fitting lid:

juice of 1 lime
1/2 cup oil (I've use canola but now encourage you to use Avocado)
1/2 cup soy sauce (I use a thick style JCS Reggae Country Style Thick Soya Sauce) (again, now I'd recommend some coconut aminos)
3 tbs sesame oil
1/3 cup brown sugar (this time I'm trying the Coconut Sugar I have 5 bags of)
1/2 tbs ground ginger (used the cool stuff from the tube)
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped, pressed, whatever (I use the stuff I do in the food processor)
dash of red pepper flakes to your taste (or, if you have the rooster stuff, a tsp (more or less) of Sriracha chili sauce is better) (I used the cool chili pepper in a tube)
cilantro, chopped, to taste, optional

 

 

  

Shake the heck out of all those ingredients.

Now top the salad with steak already cooked and cut into smaller than normal bite size (that's my way of being frugal, not slices, small pieces).

Adding cooked pasta will make this a little more filling and perhaps more "guy friendly" Just mix it in with the salad greens before topping with steak and dressing.

Pour the dressing over the top, stand back, admire and dig in ... enjoy!

Looking forward to sharing with some of these GREAT Parties ... go check them out!

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