After some prodding encouragement from my dear friend S. tonight, I’m going to do my best to revive this blog. Bring on the defibrillator.
Let’s ease back into this with something simple, shall we? I made this very easy Vietnamese-ish noodle salad yesterday, inspired by the latest issue of Fine Cooking magazine, and discovered that it’s a great way to clean out the crisper drawer, since you can use pretty much any crunchy vegetables you have lying around.
First, get your noodles going. Boil some water in a medium pot, then add 2 to 3 ounces of rice noodles per serving — thin, wide, whatever you like. Boil until cooked but still al dente; thin noodles may only take 2 minutes, really wide ones can take up to 8. Once they’re cooked to your liking, drain and rinse in cold water.
While the water is boiling and the noodles are cooking, make your dressing. For each serving, combine the juice of half a lime, a scant tablespoon fish sauce or soy sauce, a healthy pinch of sugar, a tsp or so of minced ginger, a minced small clove of garlic, and a squeeze of sriracha or other hot sauce. Taste, and add more soy/sugar/lime/hot sauce as desired.
Then prep your veggies. Thinly slice some radishes, cucumber, red pepper, or other crunchy veggies. Cut a couple of leaves of lettuce (ideally romaine or iceberg) into ribbons. If you want to add carrot, use a vegetable peeler to make ribbons, or just slice it really thinly. There are no rules here. Cucumber, lettuce, and carrot are more traditional, but use what you’ve got: celery or broccoli stalks or jicama or daikon or onion or whatever. Toss in some coarsely chopped mint leaves and cilantro. (If you don’t have mint or cilantro, don’t worry. Your salad will still be tasty.)
Toss together noodles, veggies, and dressing. Top with some chopped peanuts (salted or unsalted) or other nuts. You can also add some cooked chicken or tofu to make it more substantial.
C’est tout! Enjoy!
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