Ingredients

Asian Noodle Salad

  • 75g (per person) cooked & cooled noodles (cool by running under cold water)
  • an array of mixed raw or cooked & cooled veg – my favourites are; red cabbage, mangetout, carrot & red pepper (broccoli, cauliflower, raw spinach leaves, radish, leek etc all work well, as do many others – experiment!)
  • Cucumber
  • Spring onion
  • Sesame seeds
  • Cashew nuts (or peanuts)
  • Coriander
  • Any left over shredded chicken or pork, sliced beef, prawns or tofu; or leave it veggie!

Asian dressing ingredients

  • 1 tbsp oil (I use melted coconut oil, but sesame, walnut, or plain old olive oil are all fine too),
  • 1 tsp rice vinegar (if you have it),
  • 1 tsp mirin (if you have it),
  • 2 tbsp soy sauce,
  • 1 tsp honey/agave,
  • 1 tbsp sweet chilli sauce,
  • fresh black pepper

ASIAN NOODLE SALAD

In our house, as a kid, Monday’s meant one thing – leftovers! Cold meat sandwiches for lunch, left over vegetables warmed up in gravy for dinner – you name it, we reheated it. This Asian inspired salad is a great way to disguise your leftovers in to a really tasty and healthy meal, you can also use it to avoid wasting those random vegetables rolling around at the bottom of the fridge – don’t throw them away! It’s ideal for making in advance and doesn’t spoil so it’s perfect to fill lunch boxes. I haven’t listed any quantities for the vegetables as it’s down to personal taste – and whatever you have around, so just use as much or as little as you want (or have!). You can use any noodles you like for the salad, I like wholewheat egg noodles, but soba, rice, glass, courgetti or boodles are all great too; try to avoid using spaghetti as it doesn’t cool in the same way and can go hard and chewy. Gross.

Method

  1. Combine the Asian dressing ingredients and whisk together (those quantities make enough for 2 small salads). Add half the dressing to the noodles and toss to cover. 
  2. Use a peeler to create strips out of the cucumber and carrot. Slice the spring onion and red pepper in to thin strips – taste wise this is completely unnecessary and you can actually slice all the vegetables however you damn well please. 
  3. Arrange the vegetables on top of the noodles, add any meat if using, sprinkle over the sesame seeds and nuts, add the remaining dressing and chopped coriander. 
  4. Munch.