This salad is bright, light and beautiful. Everything about it is refreshing: we have cucumbers, radishes, carrots, cilantro, scallions, tangly and delicate vermicelli noodles and a powerful peanut sauce that could rule the world if it wanted to (peanut sauce for 2024 POTUS!) Oh, I also forgot about the crunchy peanuts on top, too. They just *make* it.
Before I get to this recipe, I want to note a few things. The first being that this a dish inspired by Southeast Asian cuisine (specifically Thai and Vietnamese ingredients and flavors.) This is, at its core, an Asian dish. My preparation is probably dumbed down and Americanized, but I am incredibly grateful for all of the Asian chefs, cooks, and teachers who I have had the privilege to learn about these flavors from so that I can understand how to put the pieces together and create a dish like this at home. I’m not sure if you knew this, but I’ve always been extremely inspired by Asian cuisines of all kinds, and in 2014, I had the privilege to study Cantonese cuisine and culture in Hong Kong. Cantonese is a totallllly different cuisine than Southeast Asian, but learning about it inspired me to bring my curiosity back home to the US and learn from Asian chefs from all over Asia who had opened restaurants in the US. That being said, eating and learning in Hong Kong was like dipping my pinky toe into the Asian cuisine abyss and I can never have enough. I am so grateful to learn EVERYDAY from Asians in the culinary space and if you’re going to make this recipe, I need you to feel this gratitude as well. This isn’t a suggestion, it’s a call to action. There’s so much hate happening towards Asians in the world, and it’s sickening to say the least. So, if you are here on this blog post, please do me the favor of spreading gratitude that our country and the world are lucky enough to have been influenced by Asian immigrants and their cultures in cuisine, cultuture and so, so, so much more.
Every time I make an Asian dish, I feel compelled to use this opportunity to try and spread as much gratitude and appreciation as possible. I really hope you take the time to do the same.
In terms of technical cooking stuff, here’s my usual Q&A for ya.
What noodles can I use?
I went with a brown rice vermicelli noodle that I got from Whole Foods – it’s essentially a suuuuper super thin rice noodle (in this case, whole grain, so firmer in texture) and it has this tangly, delicate, bouncy texture. I love it when it’s tangled in crisp, raw, crunchy veggies and bathed in my peanut sauce. Some vermicelli is actually made from mung beans (they’re also called bean threads) so if you can’t find rice vermicelli, you could also try these. If you can’t find vermicelli of any kind, go for rice noodles! There are usually pad Thai noodles in the international section of the store, and those would be my second choice. If you can’t find those, you could also go with buckwheat soba which would taste awesome and compliment the nuttiness of the sauce.
I’m allergic to peanut butter…any other suggestions?
Sunflower butter is one of my favorite substitutes for peanut butter because it’s got a more nutty flavor than almond butter, which I find to be a little sweet. I think sunflower butter is the best sub for this sauce!
Can I make this without the noodles?
Yes!!! Feel free to shred more carrots, though! I think that would be a nice touch if you went noodle-less.
Before I get to this recipe, I want to note a few things. The first being that this a dish inspired by Southeast Asian cuisine (specifically Thai and Vietnamese ingredients and flavors.) This is, at its core, an Asian dish. My preparation is probably dumbed down and Americanized, but I am incredibly grateful for all of the Asian chefs, cooks, and teachers who I have had the privilege to learn about these flavors from so that I can understand how to put the pieces together and create a dish like this at home. I’m not sure if you knew this, but I’ve always been extremely inspired by Asian cuisines of all kinds, and in 2014, I had the privilege to study Cantonese cuisine and culture in Hong Kong. Cantonese is a totallllly different cuisine than Southeast Asian, but learning about it inspired me to bring my curiosity back home to the US and learn from Asian chefs from all over Asia who had opened restaurants in the US. That being said, eating and learning in Hong Kong was like dipping my pinky toe into the Asian cuisine abyss and I can never have enough. I am so grateful to learn EVERYDAY from Asians in the culinary space and if you’re going to make this recipe, I need you to feel this gratitude as well. This isn’t a suggestion, it’s a call to action. There’s so much hate happening towards Asians in the world, and it’s sickening to say the least. So, if you are here on this blog post, please do me the favor of spreading gratitude that our country and the world are lucky enough to have been influenced by Asian immigrants and their cultures in cuisine, cultuture and so, so, so much more.
Every time I make an Asian dish, I feel compelled to use this opportunity to try and spread as much gratitude and appreciation as possible. I really hope you take the time to do the same.
In terms of technical cooking stuff, here’s my usual Q&A for ya.
What noodles can I use?
I went with a brown rice vermicelli noodle that I got from Whole Foods – it’s essentially a suuuuper super thin rice noodle (in this case, whole grain, so firmer in texture) and it has this tangly, delicate, bouncy texture. I love it when it’s tangled in crisp, raw, crunchy veggies and bathed in my peanut sauce. Some vermicelli is actually made from mung beans (they’re also called bean threads) so if you can’t find rice vermicelli, you could also try these. If you can’t find vermicelli of any kind, go for rice noodles! There are usually pad Thai noodles in the international section of the store, and those would be my second choice. If you can’t find those, you could also go with buckwheat soba which would taste awesome and compliment the nuttiness of the sauce.
I’m allergic to peanut butter…any other suggestions?
Sunflower butter is one of my favorite substitutes for peanut butter because it’s got a more nutty flavor than almond butter, which I find to be a little sweet. I think sunflower butter is the best sub for this sauce!
Can I make this without the noodles?
Yes!!! Feel free to shred more carrots, though! I think that would be a nice touch if you went noodle-less.
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