It’s hot and whilst salads are the go to meals, Arugula ‘this’ and Romaine ‘that’ are getting so boring .To get over the leafy hump, try this fiery yet cool vermicelli noodle salad. This salad makes for a satisfying dinner with these hair-thin rice noodles which fill the tummy without making you feel heavy.
For this dish, I look to Vietnamese salads for inspiration – something sweet yet limey, crunchy whilst soft, cooked and uncooked tossed together with lightly bruised chili, fresh mint, lemongrass and cilantro. With all these full-bodied flavors, all that is needed is a good measure of fish sauce to give it a salty kick. This fermented and suspicious smelling liquid could knock you out in just a whiff, but what it does in a dish is simply magical. It adds an unidentifiable depth to making it moreish and unmistakably Thai or Vietnamese.
Photo Credit: Yum Sugar
Once all these ingredients have been sliced, pounded or bruised, you’re ready to feast on this lime quenched and perfectly slippery dish. To add a final element of crunch, top with roasted peanuts – the only fat component in the whole dish!
Salad
1 * 1lb packet vermicelli noodles, Cook as per instructions and rinse under cold water
¼ cup peanuts
1 large shallot, thinly sliced
2 tomatoes, deseeded and thinly sliced
1 handful of Cilantro roughly torn halfway along its length
½ handful of fresh mint leaves
5 scallions, sliced from white part to the light green
1 Israeli cucumber
¼ cup peanuts
Salad dressing
¼ cup of Fresh lime-juice
1 tbsp. minced lemongrass
1 tbsp. Sriracha hot sauce
4 tbsp. Fish sauce
1 tbsp. sugar
4 Fresh garlic, crushed
Chili, Thinly sliced chili
1 tsp. of sugar
Method
1) Combine all dressing ingredients and allow to stand for 10 minutes
2) Toss together all the salad ingredients with the dressing, reserving the peanuts
3) Run your knife through the peanuts and sprinkle over the salad just before serving
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