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Spicy Thai Pork Tenderloin Salad

This is a main-course salad that is very satisfying and flavorful but also light and crunchy. Other meat, particularly boneless chicken thighs, could be used, but the pork marries especially well with the marinade. 

Course Main Course, Salad
Cuisine Asian
Servings 8 at least
Author Debi Simons

Ingredients

  • 1 ½ pounds boneless pork tenderloin, usually 2 tenderloins put together--separate before cooking

For the marinade and dressing:

  • ⅔ cup shallots, 4-6, dep. on size
  • ⅔ cup cilantro leaves and tender stems
  • 4 tablespoons light brown sugar
  • 6 garlic cloves
  • 5 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 5 tablespoons peanut or grapeseed oil
  • 4 limes, zested and juiced, or 1/2 cup juice and 1/2 tsp. lime oil*
  • 3-inch ipiece ginger root, cut into chunks
  • 2 tablespoons Asian fish sauce
  • 1 to 2 chiles jalapenos, serrano, or Thai bird, seeds and ribs removed if desired**

For the salad:

  • 8 cups Napa or regular cabbage, thinly sliced
  • 5-6 scallions, ends trimmed, thinly-sliced up to green part where it becomes tough and/or withered
  • 2 small Persian or Kirby cucumbers, or 1/2-1 large hothouse cucumber
  • 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
  • 1-2 jalapenos, ribs and seeds removed and finely diced
  • 1-2 cups fresh herbs, either with leaves pulled from stems or coarsely chopped***
  • 1 - 1 1/2 cups roasted peanuts or cashews, chopped

Instructions

Step 1

  1. Put all marinade/dressing ingredients in food processor or blender and process until finely-chopped, forming a homogeneous mixture.

Step 2

  1. Pat pork dry with paper towel.  Place tenderloin in a large bowl and spread about a quarter of the above mixture all over pork. Marinate at room temperature for 2 hours, or cover and refrigerate up to 24 hours; turn the tenderloin occasionally.

Step 3

  1. Light the grill or heat the broiler and arrange a rack at least 4 inches from the heat. Grill or broil pork, turning occasionally, until well browned and meat reaches an internal temperature of 135 degrees, 4 to 10 minutes per side depending upon the heat of your broiler or grill. Keep an eye on it so it doesn’t overcook. Pork will still be pink, but that's okay. Let meat rest while you prepare the salad. (Or, cook the pork 1 or 2 hours ahead and serve it at room temperature.) 

Step 4

  1. In a large bowl, combine the salad ingredients except for the chopped nuts and perhaps the jalapenos, depending on your audience.  Slice pork thinly and arrange on a platter,  Pour/scrape any juices/marinade over pork. Put the salad, pork, dressing, nuts and jalapenos on the table and let guests make their own combinations. Leftovers can then be refrigerated separately.

Recipe Notes

*This amount of lime juice and zest makes for a very lime-y flavor. You can reduce the amount by perhaps 1/4 if you don't want a strong lime flavor, but I wouldn't go any lower than that. If you don't want to mess with fresh limes, bottled lime juice and lime oil are perfectly acceptable. Citrus oils are available online.

**Seeds and ribs carry much of the heat in peppers; taste yours and gauge accordingly depending on your diners.

***Original recipe called for 1 1/2 cups each mint and cilantro leaves and 1 cup basil. This seems like way too much. In the rush to get this on the table I accidentally left out the cilantro I was going to include, which was just the rest of the bunch left over from the marinade/dressing, and the salad was fine. It would have been fine with the additional cilantro, too!