Vietnamese Rice Noodle Salad

Vietnamese-Rice-Noodles-SaladIt’s been crazy hot here on my part of the world. I’m trying to stay away from the stove as much as possible. I’m sure you all can relate.

I’ve been trying to come up with substantial dishes that can be served cool or room temperature that don’t require to much heating up of the kitchen. This especially applies to Shabbat, where I’m tasked with creating and serving multiple dishes for a crowd.

This Vietnamese Rice Noodle dish is a perfect example of a meal-in-a-salad that comes together quickly and is great both warm or cold. It’s also very adaptable. You can swap out some of the veggies and change the protein to whatever you prefer. For this dish, I used turkey. I knew that my guests would be looking for some kind of meat dish and I had the turkey ready to go.

I started by cooking up the rice noodles. I used the thin rice vermicelli, which I can pour boiling water over to cook. Super easy to do. After soaking for around ten minutes, I drained the noodles.

I then cooked up the turkey with some garlic, ginger, shallots and chopped shiitake mushrooms. I love the flavors that comes off of the meat. Once cooked, I added some tamari and lime lime juice to the meat directly.

I chopped up my veggies and made the dressing. I was ready to go.

I mixed the veggies with the noodles and layered the ground turkey over it and then poured on the dressing. Everyone was happy with the salad.

I also make a vegetarian version of this salad. When I do, I swap out the turkey and use chopped tofu or the soy beef-style crumbles. They work well. When I crumble the tofu, I tend to use an extra firm version and add some extra garlic, ginger and soy sauce for extra flavor.

Hope you enjoy!


Vietnamese Rice Noodle Salad
 
Author:
Recipe type: gluten free, salad
Ingredients
  • 1 package vermicelli rice stick noodles
  • 1 tbsp. rice bran oil
  • 4 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 1 shallot, chopped
  • 1 tbsp. ginger, chopped
  • 1 lb. ground turkey
  • juice of ½ lime
  • 2 tsp. tamari
  • 2-3 scallions, chopped
  • 2 tbsp. cilantro, chopped
  • 1 tbsp. mint, chopped
  • 2 carrots, shredded
  • ½ daikon, shredded
  • 1 red pepper, chopped or julienned
  • 1 seedless cucumber, julienned or chopped
  • 1 cubed avocado
  • 2 tsp. red pepper flakes
For the dressing:
  • juice of ½ lime
  • 2 tbsp. rice vinegar
  • 1 tbsp. brown sugar or honey
  • 2 tbsp. tamari
  • 1 tbsp. water
  • ½ tbsp. rice bran oil
  • 1 tbsp. chopped peanuts (optional)
Instructions
  1. Cook the noodles by placing them in a large bowl and pour boiling water over it. Let sit a few minutes, drain and set aside.
  2. Heat up the oil in a large pan and saute the ginger, garlic and shallot.
  3. Add in the ground turkey and chopped shiitake mushrooms and cook until done.
  4. Squeeze the juice of a ½ lime and 2 tsp. tamari or soy sauce over the turkey and mix.
  5. Prep all of the veggies and set aside.
  6. Mix up the dressing ingredients and set aside.
  7. Mix the rice noodles with the veggies and then layer with the ground turkey mixture. Stir in the whisked dressing.
  8. Serve and enjoy!

 

 

Vietnamese-Rice-Noodles-Salad

Frozen Cantaloupe Mojitos

Frozen Cantaloupe Mint Mojitos

I recently received a cantaloupe in my organic fruit co-op. I wasn’t quite sure what I would do with it. My kids aren’t the biggest melon fans, so I knew I couldn’t just slice it up and serve for breakfasts.

Frozen Cantaloupe Mint Mojitos

I cut it up in small pieces, bagged it up and placed in the freezer. I figured that I would use it for a smoothie or something along those lines later on.

Later that evening though, we had some impromptu guests and I decided to see if it would work in an adult drink.

My favorite summer drink is a mint mojito. I have a crazy amount of mint growing in my herb garden. In past summers, my frozen mint mojito has been a huge success. I decided to experiment with the cantaloupe thrown in and was very pleased.

While the cantaloupe pieces sat in the freezer, I went outside to pick some mint and made up a small batch of simple syrup.

I placed the frozen cantaloupe in my blender along with some fresh mint leaves, some lime juice and simple syrup. I muddled the mixture a bit. I then added a few ice cubes and some Bacardi white rum. I knew then that it would be great!

 

mojito-blender

I blended everything together until it was the right consistency. I tasted a bit to see if it needed anything. It was perfect. I then served with a garnish of mint leaves.

I definitely need to make these more often!

Frozen Cantaloupe Mojitos
 
Author:
Recipe type: Cocktail
Serves: 2
Ingredients
  • ½ cantaloupe, cut up
  • 15 mint leaves
  • ½ cup simple syrup
  • ½ cup white rum (I also use Bacardi)
  • 1 cup ice cubes
  • juice of 2 limes
Instructions
  1. Cut up the cantaloupe and freeze the pieces for at least 3-4 hours
  2. Place the mint leaves, the cantaloupe, the lime juice and the simple syrup in the blender.
  3. Muddle the mixture a bit to bring out the flavor.
  4. Add in the ice cubes and rum.
  5. Blend until you reach desired consistency.
  6. Serve and garnish with extra mint leaves.
  7. Enjoy!

cantaloupe-mojitos
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