My Little Hong Kong Kitchen: Vietnamese Noodle Salad

There’s nothing like a nice, refreshing, zesty cold salad on a warm summer day. Inspired by her recent travels to Vietnam, the land of vibrant, fresh, simple dishes, home chef Laura Williams has created this colorful Vietnamese Noodle Salad dish, actually a deconstruction of the country’s famous fresh spring rolls stuffed with crunchy vegetables, fresh herbs and finished with a spicy soy and lime dressing. If you are an avid Instagrammer, then you probably know about My Little Hong Kong Kitchen, Laura’s fabulous food blog where she shares her glorious home kitchen experiments, as well as her stunning photographs.

The secret to this salad is in the dressing, it’s what brings the whole dish together. This recipe serves two for dinner and four for lunch. For added protein, throw in some leftover shredded chicken or fish. Also fantastic? This dish is so easy to make.

Noodle Salad Ingredients

• 150g vermicelli rice noodles
• 1 medium carrot, washed and peeled
• 1/2 red bell pepper, washed and cored
• 1/2 yellow bell pepper,  washed and cored
• 1/4 red cabbage, washed
• 1 bunch fresh coriander, washed
• 1 bunch fresh mint, washed

Dressing Ingredients

• Juice of 2 small or 1 large lime
• 1/2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
• 1/2 tbsp fish sauce (optional; vegans can substitute with coconut aminos)
• 1 1/2 tbsp gluten-free soy sauce or Tamari
• 1 tsp coconut flower sugar
• 1/2 Bird’s Eye/Thai chili (minced)

Directions

Step 1: Begin by soaking the rice noodles in a bowl of boiling water for 3-4 minutes until they soften, but make sure to keep them on the al dente side. Drain, rinse with cold water and set aside.

Step 2: Prepare the vegetables by finely slicing the red and yellow bell peppers. Grate or very finely slice the carrot and shred the cabbage. (A mandolin works wonders here!) Roughly chop a handful of coriander and another of mint. Throw the shredded veggies into the noodle bowl and toss to combine.

Step 3: To make the dressing,  place all the dressing ingredients in a bowl and whisk until well blended. Adjust the seasoning to taste: you may want a little more soy sauce or fish sauce, or perhaps a tad more coconut sugar.

Step 4: Add the dressing to the noodle salad bowl. Toss all the ingredients with the dressing and serve with a few wedges of lime.

Laura Williams is a Hong Kong expat and part time Native English Teacher, food blogger and photographer. She created My Little Hong Kong Kitchen 18 months ago to share her passion for good food and great produce. Her mission is to create delicious recipes that are easy to follow, healthy and practical to make at home whether cooking for yourself or your whole family. Follow her and her incredible food photography on Instagram and make sure to like her Facebook page. 

All photos by Laura Williams.