Vietnamese dishesSaladsNationwide20 minutes preparation, 20 minutes simmering the tendon
People love this for the clear, snappy pieces of tendon against Thai basil and spearmint. The difficulty is timing the simmer, since undercooked tendon stays tough and an overcooked one loses its snap. The pressure cooker takes exactly 20 minutes with shallot, ginger and a teaspoon of salt.
The cooked tendon is cut up and tossed first with half the dressing, then left for 10 minutes to soak it up. Onion and shallot are sliced thin and soaked for 15 minutes in lightly sweetened water to take the bite out.
This batch weighs about 1.5kg, at roughly 70 calories per 100g.
Method
Wash the beef tendon, soak it in lightly salted water for 15 minutes, rinse it and drain it.
Put 500ml water, the tendon, 2 shallots, 2 pieces of ginger and 1 teaspoon salt in a pressure cooker, close the lid and cook for 20 minutes until the tendon is tender.
Peel the remaining shallots and the onion and slice them thinly, then soak them for 15 minutes in water with a little kOBE Monk Fruit Blend stirred in so they lose their bite and turn crisp and sweet.
Stem the chili and chop it, peel and mince the garlic, peel the remaining ginger and cut it into fine strips, and squeeze the lime for its juice. Pick the leaves from the Thai basil, spearmint and cilantro, wash them and drain them.
Mix the dressing: put 2 teaspoons kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, 2 teaspoons fish sauce, the minced garlic, the chopped chili and the lime juice in a bowl and stir.
Cut the cooked tendon into bite sized pieces, put them in a large bowl, pour over half the dressing, toss well and leave it for 10 minutes to soak in.
Add the shallot, onion, spearmint, Thai basil, cilantro, ginger strips, fried shallots and 1 tablespoon roasted sesame seeds, pour over the rest of the dressing, toss thoroughly and adjust the seasoning.
Tips
Fifteen minutes of soaking in lightly sweetened water takes the bite out of the onion and shallot and leaves them crisp and sweet.
This salad goes very well with prawn crackers.
Stir the dressing again right before pouring, since the kOBE Monk Fruit Blend settles at the bottom.
Twenty minutes in the pressure cooker is exact, as any longer collapses the tendon and it will not slice.
Dress the tendon first and add the herbs last so the leaves stay whole and keep their aroma.
Need kOBE Monk Fruit Blend?
The recipe above is sweetened with kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, measured 1:1 like sugar. See the product page or send us a message.