Recipes
Seafood Glass Noodle Salad
Glass noodles are one of the unsung heroes in world cuisine as they have a clean, refreshing taste that brings a new dimension to dinner time. When paired with fresh greens and rich, ripe tomatoes as found in this dish, your plate will be as colourful as the noodles are flavourful. Taking only 30 minutes to prepare, this recipe will serve four comfortably and can easily be sized up with extra veg when feeding a larger party.
Ingredients
1 large celery stick, thinly sliced
⅓ cucumber, seeds removed, thinly sliced
1½ teaspoons salt
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
120g green beans
300g mixed seafood, such as baby octopus, squid and tiger prawns
100g glass noodles or rice noodles, cooked to the pack instructions, and cooled
160g baby plum tomatoes, halved
1 large lime leaf, finely chopped
For the dressing
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1-2 red chillies, seeds removed, finely chopped
40ml lime juice
40ml fish sauce
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 small handful of coriander, mint and Thai basil, torn
2 tablespoons chopped plain peanuts
Method
- Cook the noodles, following the instructions on the pack. When cooked, drain and keep to one side.
- Put the celery and cucumber in a small bowl, and add ½ a teaspoon of salt. Mix lightly with your hands, and leave for 10 minutes.
- Soak the red onion in a bowl of water for the same length of time, to release some of the bitterness.
- Bring a small pan of water to the boil. Add ½ a teaspoon of salt and cook the green beans on a medium heat for 5 minutes. Drain, and gently cool down in cold water.
- Bring another pan of water to the boil. Add ½ a teaspoon of salt and cook seafood for 2-3 minutes, until it’s just cooked through. Drain though a sieve, and cool down in cold water.
- In a large bowl, combine the noodles, tomatoes and chopped lime leaf, and keep to one side.
- By now, the cucumber, celery and red onion should be ready. Squeeze out any excess water with your hands and add them to the large bowl.
- Drain the cooled seafood and beans, pat dry with kitchen paper, and add them to the bowl too.
- To make the dressing, combine the garlic, red chilli, lime juice, fish sauce, sugar, soy sauce and sesame oil in a small bowl. Mix thoroughly until the sugar has dissolved.
- Pour the dressing over the salad and mix lightly with your hand. Arrange on a large plate to share, or on individual plates. Pour any remaining dressing from the bottom of the bowl over the top, and sprinkle with coriander, mint, Thai basil and chopped peanuts.
