I am a big fan of Vietnamese food - I love the lightness of the dishes and the subtle sweet and sour aromas of the food. This noodle salad is my creation based on a Vietnamese style dressing and bean thread vermicelli noodles. It's light, fragrant and a makes for a great summer lunch or supper dish. It's also quick to prepare and really dead simple.
The ingredients for this noodle salad are all fairly easy to find if you don't already have them waiting in your fridge or larder. The three slightly left field things you'll need are bottles of oyster sauce and fish sauce for your sweet and sour dressing and a packet of bean thread vermicelli noodles. Apart from that, you'll need a little coriander and/or mint, a couple of cloves of garlic, a couple of limes and then some really standard kitchen mainstays; a chicken breast, carrot, cucumber, a dried chilli and some lettuce leaves - that doesn't sound too daunting, does it?. There's some slicing and mincing involved, a little stir frying and that's about it really. Twenty minutes should get you there. As for the vermicelli noodles, just plunge these into a pan of boiling water, turn off the heat immediately and then wait 5 minutes and they'll be done - what could be simpler? I suggest you give it a try!
If this recipe has got your taste buds going, then you can find the Youtube tutuorial by clicking Vietnamese style Noodle Salad or by scrolling to the bottom of the page. The written recipe is just below.
Nau An Vui Ve! (That's Happy Cooking in Vietnamese!) Kurumi XXXX.
ingredients:
for the sweet & sour dressing:
2 cloves of garlic
a little dried chilli (to your taste)
1.5 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp fish sauce
juice of 2 limes
2 tbsp cold water
60g / 2oz carrot, peeled
60g / 2oz cucumber
60g /2 oz lettuce
1 chicken breast
for the chicken breast marinade:
black pepper
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tbsp fish sauce
1/2 tbsp oyster sauce
2 bundles dried vermicelli noodles (about 100g /3.5oz)
1 tsp vegetable oil
a handful of fresh mint and/or coriander
how to:
first, to make the dressing:
slice and mince the garlic cloves and put them in a small bowl
slice up as much dried chill as you like and add it to the bowl
add 1.5 tbsp of sugar & 2 tbsp of fish sauce
halve the limes, squeeze out the juice and add to the bowl
add 2 tbsp of water and stir well
next, slice the carrot & cucumber and cut julienne style into matchsticks
slice up the lettuce leaves
lay the chicken breast on a chopping board and cut into two schnitzel style fillets. slice into strips and put into a second bowl
sprinkle the chicken with some black pepper. add 1 tsp of sugar, 1/2 tbsp of fish sauce and
1/2 tbsp of oyster sauce. stir together well
bring a medium saucepan of water to the boil. drop in the vermicelli noodles and turn off the heat. leave the noodles to soften which should take about 5 minutes (the time may vary according to the brand, so please check the packaging for instructions)
drain the noodles and using a pair of scissors, cut them 3 or 4 times to make them shorter (which makes them easier to eat)
next, cook your chicken. heat 1 tsp of vegetable oil in a small frying pan. add the chicken and stir fry for 4-5 minutes until the chicken is cooked through
now to plate up: add half of the noodles to each serving bowl. then, place half of the lettuce, cucumber, carrot and chicken on top of the noodles
garnish with some chopped mint and/or coriander leaves
just before eating, spoon over the sweet and sour dressing
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