Donna-Hay inspired Thai Noodle Salad

While flicking through Donna Hay's latest book, 'No Time to Cook', I saw a recipe for 'Instant Thai Noodle Salad'. I had recently tried making a cold rice vermicelli salad with tofu, vegetables and shiitake mushrooms, with disappointing results. It was fairly bland, despite the addition of lots of lemon juice and soy sauce. So I was interested to try this one, but with a few variations.

I am quite a fan of tofu, especially silken, but wanted to make this dish a bit more hearty and meaty as it was being provided as lunch for some hungry people who had been hard at work on apartment renovations. So I pan-fried some scotch fillet steaks until juicy and tender, then sliced and added in place of tofu. I also had leftover shiitake mushrooms, so included these for their delicious flavour and texture, used rice wine vinegar instead of lime juice (I forgot to buy limes!) and omitted the coriander and cucumber as these were unavailable at my local supermarket (who are very poor at keeping up their fruit and veg stocks, particularly herbs - grrr!).

The sauce amounts are approximate - I love things very saucy, but you can adjust to taste.

All, including myself, agreed that this was a delicious dish, healthy, full of different delicious textures and tastes. Not bland at all, this one :) And great as leftovers the next day!

Thai Noodle Salad (with thanks to Donna Hay)

200g dried rice vermicelli
1 large carrot, finely sliced (I cut mine into little sticks)
100g snow peas, trimmed and finely sliced
1/2 cup mint leaves, finely chopped
1 cucumber finely sliced
1/2 cup coriander leaves, finely chopped
1/2 cup chopped roasted peanuts
400g scotch fillet beef steaks (or 200g firm tofu)
1/3 cup sweet chilli sauce
1/3 cup rice wine vinegar or lime juice
3 tbsp fish sauce
2/3 cup dried sliced shiitake mushrooms, soaked for 30 mins then drained and chopped.

Place noodles in a heatproof bowl and pour over boiling water to cover. Allow to stand for at least 5 mins or until tender, then drain.

Toss noodles with vegetables, herbs, nuts and beef or tofu. Combine sweet chilli sauce, lime juice or vinegar and fish sauce, pour over salad and serve. Serves 3 hungry people.