
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
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Munch.