Vietnamese · serves 2
Vietnamese Noodle Salad
Cold noodles, hot protein, sharp dressing, piles of herbs. Twenty-five minutes.
Ingredients
- 300g thin rice noodles
- 500g chicken or tofu, in strips
- 1 carrot + 1 radish, pickled in vinegar and sugar
- 1 cucumber, julienned
- Lettuce, mint, coriander, basil
- Dressing: 3 tbsp fish or soy sauce, 3 tbsp lime, 2 tbsp sugar, 2 garlic cloves, 2 chillies, 4 tbsp water
- Crushed peanuts
Method
- Dressing first: whisk everything until the sugar dissolves. Taste — sour, salty, sweet, hot, all loud.
- Quick pickle: warm vinegar with sugar and salt, pour over the carrot and radish. 20 minutes.
- Marinate the chicken in a little of the dressing, then grill or pan-fry hard till charred at the edges.
- Cook the noodles, rinse cold, drain very well.
- Build the bowl: lettuce and herbs at the bottom, noodles, then hot chicken, then pickle and cucumber.
- Dressing poured over at the table, peanuts on top. The contrast of hot and cold is the point.