Beef Larb with Baby Sweetcorn and Spinach

Larb – the traditional dish of Laos – is one of my all time favourite comfort foods. It also has to be one of the quickest and easiest dinners ever. There are as many versions of this dish as there are cooks, so feel free to experiment with your own ingredients.

I used sambal oelek in this recipe for laziness, but you can substitute with a chopped fresh chilli or even chilli flakes. You may wish to vary the amount of chilli used to suit your own taste as we like our food spicy. I used a combination of iceberg lettuce and watercress to serve, but any lettuce or salad leaves will do. 

 

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy

250g extra lean minced beef

150g baby sweetcorn

100g spinach

2 tbsp dark soy sauce

1 tbsp sweetener

2 tbsp sambal oelek

1 tbsp rice wine vinegar

shredded lettuce to serve

Sauté the beef with the baby sweetcorn until cooked through. Add the soy sauce, sweetener, vinegar and sambal oelek. Stir well to mix, then add the spinach. Simmer gently until the spinach has wilted. Serve over shredded lettuce. 

 

Chicken Pitta with Spicy Mint Dressing

Remember, it is only Asda and Co-Op pitta breads that can be used as a Healthy Extra B. As this dish probably doesn't have a full one-third of Superfree, I finished the meal having a large peach. 

 

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy*

* Providing you use the pitta bread as your Healthy Extra B

2 pitta breads

200g cooked chicken, sliced

2-4 tbsp far free plain yogurt

1 tsp harissa paste

2 tsp mint sauce

sweetener to taste (optional)

shredded lettuce leaves to serve

Toast the pitta breads and split open. Fill with the chicken and lettuce. Make a dressing with yogurt, harissa paste, mint sauce and sweetener if using. Spoon over the filling. 

 

Beef Laap with Mint

I fell in love with Laap (also spelled larp or larb) in Laos earlier this year, where it is the national dish. There are as many variations of this as there is of as a beef stew in the west, and this is one of many. Laap has now become a firm favourite in this household, it's such a quick, easy, cheap, healthy and tasty dish to make. 

Serves 2

Syn free on Extra Easy

250g extra lean minced beef

1 onion

1 tbsp dark soy sauce

1 tbsp rice wine vinegar

1 tbsp sweetener

1 red chilli, finely chopped

1 cup chopped fresh mint

2 little gem lettuces

Sauté the beef and onion in Fry Light until the onion is soft and the meat browned. Add the soy sauce, sweetener, chilli, vinegar and mint and stir until heated through and well mixed. Serve over shredded lettuce. 

 

Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad

One of my all-time favourite salads, and making it this way, I can have it on the Slimming World plan. Use Morrison's Eat Smart Caesar Dressing for this salad, at only ½ syn per tablespoon.

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy*

* without dressing, and providing you use the cheese and bread as your Healthy Extras

250 cooked chicken

125g cherry tomatoes, halved

lettuce leaves, shredded

3-4 spring onions

2 slices wholemeal bread from a 400g loaf

60g parmesan cheese shavings

100g pasta, cooked

Cut the bread into small cubes and dry fry in a saucepan until toasted and quite dry. Leave to cool completely.

Mix all the ingredients together and serve with the dressing. 

 

Sausage and Potato Salad

A last minute decision to go out for the day today to make the most of the sunshine; meant that I had to think of a picnic lunch to take. As we all love sausages, this seemed like a good idea. 

 

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy

4 Joe's Sausages (I used Old English), cooked and sliced

100g cooked new potatoes

80g cooked green beans, cut into 2.5cm lenghts

100g cherry tomatoes, halved

½ onion, sliced (I used the leftover cebollas en escabeche from yesterday)

Lettuce leaves, shredded

Combine all the salad ingredients and serve with a dressing of your choice, remembering to calculate the syn value. I made my own:

Spiced Salad Dressing

Serves 2

1 syn on Extra Easy

2 tbsp Hellman's Lighter than Light Mayonnaise

2 tbsp fat free plain yogurt

½ tsp chilli flakes

1 tsp allspice berries

½ tsp black peppercorns

1 tsp oregano

1 tbsp white balsamic vinegar

Whizz the spices through a spice grinder or food processor until fairly fine. Add with all the other ingredients in a screw top jar and shake well to combine. Add enough water to make a pouring consistency. 

 

Thai Green Chicken Salad

There is nothing remotely authentic Thai about this salad, I was just inspired by the green coloured ingredients and the Thai curry paste in the dressing. I made this for our picnic last night, but unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of the salad after the dressing was drizzled over. Bad Grete. 

 

Serves 2

1 syn on Extra Easy

150g cooked chicken, chopped

4 stalks celery, thinly sliced

½ red onion, finely sliced

1 green pepper, finely sliced

150g green grapes, halved

3 apricots, chopped

2 little gems, thinly sliced

2 Müllerlight coconut and vanilla yogurts

1 tsp Thai green curry paste.

Mix all the salad ingredients together in a salad bowl. For the dressing, mix the yogurt with the curry paste and stir well. Drizzle over the salad.