SOUTHEAST ASIAN NOODLE SALAD

SOUTHEAST ASIAN NOODLE SALAD

It may be the middle of winter but that hasn’t stopped me from making some tropical-tasting salads. Before I left on my month-long trip to Europe (like, right now), my girlfriends and I got together one last time to celebrate an early Christmas. We had an impromptu brunch that featured an assortment of things - various Chinese buns and pastries, spaghetti squash fritters with brown butter sage sauce, and I contributed a southeast Asian noodle salad. How uncohesive! Hey, I wasn’t the host and I wasn’t too anal about it. Plus, an empty fridge means cheap and easy salads (especially prior to a Central and Eastern Europe trip which means absolutely no vegetables). So…salad it was.

…and just three days into my European vacation, I am seriously glad that we went the vegetarian route! The only vegetables i’ve had thus far are cabbage and potatoes. No complaints because I knew full well going into this trip that this would be a meat and potatoes kind of vacation…delicious though.

But back to the salad! Super easy to make, cheap and easy to double up if you’re expecting a crowd. We were just a party of three but this would have easily fed four to six depending on hunger level. Feel free to mix up the vegetables too - no obligation to stick the recipe exactly!

SOUTHEAST ASIAN NOODLE SALAD - serves.4 - 6

Salad

• 115g rice vermicelli noodles, thin variety

• 1 (227g) snap peas, de-stringed and halved

• 2 small carrots, peeled and julienned

• 1 English cucumber, de-seeded and julienned

• 1/2 napa cabbage, thinly sliced

• 1 small bunch cilantro, roughly chopped

• 1 bunch scallions, thinly sliced

• 1 red bell pepper, de-seeded and julienned

• toasted sesame seeds

• 1 handful of fried chow mein noodles

• 1 lime, quartered

• 2 hard-boiled free-range eggs, de-shelled and halved

Dressing

• 1/3 cup soy sauce

• 2 tbsp fish sauce

• juice of 1 lime

• 1 tsp sesame oil

• 1 tbsp rice vinegar

• 2 tbsp granulated sugar

• 1 tsp chili oil, with seeds

1. In a deep bowl, submerge the rice vermicelli noodles in cold water. Set aside as you prep the rest of the ingredients.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together the ingredients for the dressing.

3. Place the cabbage, carrots, cucumber, snap peas, Napa cabbage, bell pepper and herbs into a bowl. Drain the noodles and pour boiling water over top of it. Let sit for 30 seconds or until the noodles are cooked. Drain and toss in with the vegetables. Add in the dressing and toss evenly. Garnish with toasted sesame seeds, chow mein noodles, eggs and lime wedges.