Vietnamese Cold Rice Noodle Salad

Vietnamese Cold Rice Noodle

I love Vietnamese food especially the Cold Rice Noodle Salad or Bun as they call it in Vietnam. If there's an excuse for me to eat this noodle everyday I would. I love the freshness of the raw vegetables and herbs topped with this heavenly sauce that's sweet, salty, sour and spicy at the same time. However, I'm told I have a 'cool' body and cannot consume too much cold or uncooked food... so there goes my dream of having bun and gui cuon everyday!

I usually have a vegetarian Bun only but if you are familiar with this noodle dish (or you might wish to google it now :p), it comes with a variety of toppings! There's the all time favourite Grilled Lemongrass Pork/Beef, Sugarcane Prawn, Fried Vietnamese Springroll (Check out my Vietnamese Spring Roll post here!), Vietnamese Meatballs, etc... You could also add your own leftover meat from last night's dinner!

Vietnamese Cold Rice Noodle Salad

Ingredients

Basic Bowl of Noodle:

120gm Vietnamese rice noodle (this would even be enough for two person when you add all that salad in)

Lettuce

Carrot

Cucumber

Beansprout

Mint leaves

Crushed roasted peanuts

Nuoc Cham Sauce:

(I've posted this recipe with my Gui Cuon post before)

3 tbsp fish sauce

2 tsp sugar

1 clove garlic, minced

1 bird's eye chili (cili padi), chopped finely

Lime Juice

!/2 bowl of warm water

 

Method:

1. Soak the rice noodle in hot water until it softens. In the event that you are using rice noodle from other sources, please follow the instructions to cook the noodle.
2. Using a grater, grate the carrots and cucumber into thin strips. I grated about half a cup each.
3. Cut the lettuce into strips. 
4. Prepare the sauce ahead. Place all the ingredients in a bowl. Using the back of your spoon, press on the garlic and chili to release the flavours. Then add the warm water. 
5. Place all the ingredients in a serving bowl. Pour sauce over the noodle only when serving.