Thursday, November 26, 2009

Vietnamese Noodle Salad

I suppose I've said this before, but allow me to reiterate. Asian cuisine is not my forte! I am however, decidedly determined to change this. I tested out this noodle salad recipe on two of my favourite guinea pigs and both gave it a big thumbs up. I'm not a fan of cucumber and even I thought it was pretty amazing! The lemongrass dressing was delicious and zingy, and the best part of all was how super easy it was to make.

Salad:

150g rice vermicelli noodles
1 small handful mint leaves, roughly torn
1 small handful coriander leaves, roughly torn
1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced
1 small unripe (green) mango, peeled and chopped
1/2 lebanese cucumber, halved and thinly sliced
1/2 cup crushed peanuts

Dressing:

2 limes, juice and grated zest
2 tbsp grated palm sugar
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 stem lemongrass (white part only), finely chopped
1 red chilli, seeded and finely chopped
2 kaffir lime leaves, shredded

Place the noodles in a heatproof bowl, cover with boiling water and allow to soak until tender. Drain, rinse under cold water and transfer to a serving bowl.

Next add in the cucumber, mint, coriander, onion, mango and half the peanuts and toss well to combine.

Whisk the dressing ingredients together and pour over the salad, tossing to combine. Top with the remaining peanuts and some extra coriander and mint.

Serves 4.