Ho Chi Kim

Ho Chi Kim

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cucumber, Mango and Green Bean Rice Noodle Salad

What is the inspiration for tonight’s nights dinner, Ho Chi Kim?

We were indulging in an episode of Hugh Fearnley Whittingstalls River Cottage Veg at the weekend, and that combined with my love for Vietnamese food gave me the inspiration for tonights dinner.  (Also the left overs will be fabulous for lunch tomorrow, however due to Tupperware circumstances beyond our control we are now precariously transporting it in plastic food bags…?)

And feedback from Mr. Meat-and-two-veg?

I didn’t believe that such complexity of flavour can come from such a simple dish!  I really didn’t think you could knock flavour together in 5 minutes and this dish proves you don’t need to invest 40 minutes to get a tasty dinner.

there’s the hype, now here’s how she did it!

Serves 3-4 people (but we made twice as much to cater for tomorrows lunch!)

The ingredients for the dressing:

Juice and zest from 1 lime

2 garlic cloves, crushed

Large splash gluten free soy sauce

Little dash of Rice wine vinegar

1 tsp brown sugar

Pinch of chilli flakes/1 fresh chilli (add more or less if you are sensitive or love chilli)

Couple of tsp Toasted sesame oil

The ingredients for the salad:

300g rice noodles/rice vermicelli/mung bean vermicelli

1 mango

1 cucumber

100g green beans

A big handful of cashew nuts

A big handful of mint and basil leaves

 

The recipe:

1. Put all the ingredients for the dressing into a bowl and mix (or into a jam jar – I find it quite therapeutic to shake it like this).  Add additional soy sauce or sesame oil to get a flavour you like.  Put aside
2. Cook the rice noodles according to the packet instructions, then drain and leave to cool
3. Lightly toast the cashew nuts in either a dry frying pan or in the oven until they start turning nicely brown.  Crush the nuts roughly (leaving some whole)
4. Steam the green beans for 3-4 minutes
5. Ribbon/thinly slice the cucumber and mango
6. Roughly chop the mint and basil leaves
7. Put the noodles, mango, cucumber, green beans and herbs into a big bowl and mix (you might find it easier to get your hands involved here as the noodles can be quite tricky to mix with spoons!)
8. Pour the dressing over the noodles and toss again

To serve, just sprinkle the crushed nuts over the salad