Vietnamese Pork Salad

I am totally intriqued with Vietnamese food. There is almost no oil (too expensive or turns rancid fast?), is not all that spicy (like Thai), and uses lots of vegetables and fruits. Yes, there is pork and chicken but like China, it is used for flavoring and in small amounts.

The original recipe called for pork with cucumbers and red onions, but this was a dinner salad and I got carried away with the garnish. Would not be the first time but I like to load up my salads will all kinds of textures and this time I added Mandarin oranges, water chestnuts, red pepper, broken cheese straws and cashews.

It was very yummy but the best part was the dressing. When I bought a pork tenderloin, I found this recipe that was perfect for the leftover. It looks like a lot of food but the platter was more long than wide and there was exactly four substantial servings.
 

This was excellent and would not think twice about making a salad with this dressing again. I know I would like to try shrimp next time and I think chicken is a great inexpensive way to go.

If you get anything out of this post, let it be the dressing. I made it in a canning jar and gave it a shake, shake right before serving. I would even make a double batch to keep in the fridge, it was that good.

Perfect for a diabetic diet and it used simple and easy to find Asian ingredients which you will use and not have them sit on a shelf.

Vietnamese Pork Salad
Loosely adapted from Epicurious.com

leftover grilled boneless pork
1/3 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup mirin
3 tablespoons fish sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon Thai chili garlic sauce (such as Sriracha)
2 cups mixed salad greens
1/2 cup cilantro leaves
1/2 cup mint leaves
2 scallions, trimmed and sliced
1/2 cup Mandarin oranges
1/4 cup roasted red peppers, chopped
1/4 cup sliced water chestnuts
Handful cheese straws, broken into chunks, or croutons

1. Slice pork thinly.
2. In small bowl, mix together rice vinegar, mirin, fish sauce, olive oil, sugar and Thai chili garlic sauce. Combine 1/4 cup dressing with pork in a resealable bag; marinate 20 minutes.
3. In large bowl, combine salad, cilantro leaves, mint leaves and scallions with the rest of the toppings. Toss with remaining dressing and top with pork.