Prawn Noodle Salad with Peanuts and Picked Red Onion
Day 4 - Salads for Spring
This salad is the one I make most frequently for lunch at work and could eat again and again without getting bored. I prep a couple of boxes of the noodles and veggies on a Sunday and then toss in some frozen prawns and the dressing the morning and I’m good to go.
This salad is inspired by the food we ate in Vietnam where everything is so vibrant and fresh with lots of wonderful herbs. It’s full of my favourite flavours and tastes great with or without the addition of chilli. It can be easily adapted to use your favourite protein (chicken or tofu would be great) and while I’m all up for swapping ingredients, the peanuts add such a nice crunch to this dish that I think unless you’re allergic they are absolutely essential.
INGREDIENTS
Time: 15
Skill: Easy
Serves: 2
For the pickled onion:
Half a red onion, thinly sliced
Pinch of salt
1 tsp sugar
Boiling water
1 tbs rice wine vinegar or white vinegar
For the dressing:
1 tbs soy sauce or tamari
1 tbs honey
1 tbs lime juice
1 tbs sesame oil
For the salad:
100g Vermicelli rice noodles
100g prawns, cooked (I always buy frozen prawns for a recipe like this as they’re cheaper and on hand when you need them)
Half a red pepper, thinly sliced
1 carrot sliced or peeled into fine ribbons
75g cucumber. seeds removed and cut into matchsticks
10 mint leaves, thinly sliced
20g coriander, roughly chopped
40g salted peanuts
2 tsp sesame seeds
METHOD
Start by pickling the onions. Add the onions, salt, sugar and vinegar to a small bowl and then pour boiling water on top until the onion is submerged. Give it a good stir so the salt and sugar dissolve and then set aside.
Cook the noodles according to the packet instructions and then cool with cold water.
Make the dressing by adding all of the dressing to a jam jar and then shaking until combined.
Toss the salad ingredients (except the peanuts and sesame seeds) together with the dressing and divide between two bowls. Top with peanuts, sesame seeds and some crispy chilli if you like.
Enjoy!
If you enjoyed this, you will love my sesame cucumber noodle chicken salad, or check out the rest of my spring salad series here.