Vietnamese Prawn and Rice Noodle Salad With Nuoc Cham

 

This Vietnamese Prawn and Rice Noodle Salad has been on my must-make list ever since  I saw the recipe of the Vietnamese rice roll with prawns and Nuoc Cham (a classic, fragrant dipping sauce that doubles as a salad dressing) in one of the episodes of the series Far Flung With Gary Mehigan.

A simple and quick roll recipe which I have prepared and shared as a salad with healthy ingredients of choice (feel free to add meat or fish to this salad or skip meat and seafood for a vegetarian version).

It’s monsoon in India at present, yet the weekend being pleasant and the hubby wanting to carry something healthy yet power-packed for his lunchbox today at work, this was the simplest lunchbox recipe I have had prepared till date.

This simple salad can be wrapped into healthy rolls or topped on canapes. Have it for lunch or brunch or even as a snack. Make a large quantity and serve as a barbecue party food.

With some tweaks to the original roll recipe, find  below my version of this healthy and tasty Vietnamese Prawn and Noodle salad recipe.

Vietnamese Prawn and Rice Noodle Salad with Nuoc Cham

Serves 2

Preparation time: 40 minutes

Ingredients

For Garlic Prawn/Shrimp

10-12 medium size Prawns/shrimps, shelled and deveined

1 tbsp unsalted Butter or Olive oil

1 Garlic clove, minced

A pinch of Salt and Pepper

For Salad

1/2 cup Rice Vermicelli or Cellophane/Glass noodles

1 small Carrot, finely julienned

1 small Cucumber, finely julienned

1/3 cup Moong or any Bean sprouts

6-7 fresh Coriander leaves

6-7 fresh Mint Leaves (Vietnamese or ordinary mint)

3 Spring Onions/Scallions, julienned

1/2 a small Yellow Bell Pepper, julienned

1/2 a small Red Bell Pepper, julienned

2 Tbsp roasted Peanuts or Cashews, pounded or coarsely ground

Nuoc Cham (Dipping Sauce or Dressing)

1 Tbsp Caster or white sugar

1/2 Tbsp Rice or white Vinegar

1 Tbsp warm Water

2 Tbsp Fish Sauce (For a vegetarian version add light soy sauce instead)

1 Tbsp Lime juice

1 small Garlic clove, crushed or finely chopped

1/2 tsp very finely chopped Red Chilli/Cayenne/Birds eye pepper (adjust as per your spice tolerance)

Method

1.Heat and melt the butter in a pan and add in the prawns. Add the seasoning (salt pepper) and saute for about 2 minutes. Remove and set aside.

2. For the nuoc cham, put the sugar, vinegar, warm water, fish sauce in a small pan over medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Remove from the heat and add in the remaining ingredients and set aside to cool.

3.Place the vermicelli noodles in a heatproof bowl add hot (not boiling hot) water let stand for 5 minutes. Drain through a colander and transfer to a kitchen towel lined sieve to let do away any excess water.

4. In a large bowl place the noodles and salad ingredients and toss in together.

5.Arrange in individual serving plates and top with the sautéed prawns and drizzle over or simply toss in the Dressing.

5. Squeeze in some lime juice and sprinkle over the pounded or ground peanuts and serve immediately.

Note:You can even use Cellophane or Glass noodles in this salad if available.

Add shredded iceberg or salad leaves if available.

You can serve it chilled, add the dressing and peanuts just before serving.

Sending across this Vietnamese Prawn and Rice Noodle Salad with Nuoc Cham for our 55th #FoodieMonday #Bloghop theme #Salads.