Vietnamese chicken noodle salad
We usually enjoy this exotic but simple salad in one of two ways — either as a lunch or light dinner, or used as a filling in fresh rice paper rolls. It can also be served as a side salad, but it’s so hearty, delicious and well balanced that it usually ends up as the centerpiece of the meal.
This is also one of those salads you can play around with and vary to suit your own tastes. The chicken can be replaced with shrimp, chunks of good-quality canned tuna, or even cubes of baked marinated tofu (here’s our recipe for that).
If you’re not a fan of cilantro (fresh coriander), you can use roughly chopped fresh mint leaves instead. Cashew nuts or sliced almonds can be used to replace the peanuts, and other vegetables that work well with this salad include snow peas, finely shredded cabbage, or diced green or red pepper.
You can also use the vibrantly-flavored dressing as a marinade for fish, seafood or chicken before grilling or barbecuing.
And don’t be intimidated by the fact that this salad is Vietnamese. Apart from the fish sauce (which is easy to find even at smaller supermarkets), most of the other ingredients are no doubt already very familiar to you including cucumber, carrots, scallions (scallions), peanuts, limes, bean sprouts, and of course chicken.
2 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 garlic clove — minced
2 teaspoons peanut or canola oil
2 teaspoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon finely chopped red chili (or ½ teaspoon dried chili flakes)
2 cups bean sprouts
1 carrot — grated
1 cup thinly sliced cucumber — cut into half-moons
2 scallions — thinly sliced on diagonal
2 cups shredded skinless rotisserie chicken
¼ cup roasted unsalted peanuts — lightly crushed
A handful of cilantro (fresh coriander) leaves
Variations: The chicken can be replaced with shrimp, chunks of good-quality canned tuna, or even cubes of baked marinated tofu. If you’re not a fan of cilantro you can use roughly chopped fresh mint leaves instead. Cashew nuts or sliced almonds can be used to replace the peanuts, and other vegetables that work well with this salad include snow peas, finely shredded cabbage, or diced green or red pepper.
