Be sure you get the right kind of noodles for this salad. Rice vermicelli noodles are different from mung bean noodles (or glass noodles). I made a trip to the Asian market to get the mung bean noodles. And, you could add ground pork to this salad, or even ground turkey. In fact, the next time I make this, I intend to cook ground turkey in a little water and add a scant teaspoon of fish sauce to it. I’ll mix that with my shrimp and garlic before tossing with the noodles and sauce. Also, I think something crunchy like chopped celery would contribute nicely to this salad. Having said all that, my Thai noodle salad was refreshing and tasty and fun to make. There are tons of recipes for this noodle salad on the internet, but this recipe was inspired by Pepper Tiegen’s recipe (Chrissy’s mom). You can even toss this salad and stick it in the frig for a while… while you open the wine and start the movie!

Fish sauce seems like the weirdest ingredient. It smells terrible in the bottle, but when combined with sugar and lime juice, it creates the most delicious sweet and sour sauce. It is pungent and aggressive and a little goes a long way. What is fish sauce? Alex Delaney described it in a 2018 Bon Appetit article: Well…fish, actually. Fish sauce lives up to the name. It does, as advertised, derive most of its flavor from fish, but you don’t just smack a fish around and out plops a bottle of fish sauce. The real flavor comes from the process of fermenting fish for anywhere from a couple months to a few years. Small fish like anchovies are coated in salt and packed in large barrels to hang out. The natural bacterias start to break down the fish, producing a briny, fishy, savory liquid. That, friends, is fish sauce.

Red Boat seems to be the preferred brand.

Directions

Peel the shrimp and devein them. Leave the tails on (optional). Chop the vegetables and have your ingredients in place.

Step 1

To prepare the noodles: Soak them in cool to warm water (not hot) for 10 minutes. Drain and set aside until you are ready to boil them. When you boil them, just boil for about 2 minutes then drain them and let them cool.

Step 2

For the shrimp: Pat the deveined shrimp dry and toss them in seasoning (I used Prudhomme's Blackened Seafood seasoning). Swirl a little oil in a medium hot to hot skillet and saute them with the garlic until they are just done. Don't overcook them. Set aside until you are ready to put the salad together.

Step 3

Make the sauce: Combine the lime juice, the soy sauce, the fish sauce, sugar and minced chili.

Step 4

Have the tomatoes ready - if using cherry tomatoes, slice them in half. The scallions are chopped. The cilantro is chopped roughly. The red onions are sliced thinly. The iceberg lettuce or romaine is torn into pieces.

Step 5

When you are ready to assemble the salad, put the shrimp in a bowl. Add the noodles. Add the vegetables. Pour in enough sauce to coat the ingredients but don't turn this into soup. You probably won't need all of the sauce! You can chill the salad now or serve it a room temperature.

Step 6

Sprinkle the peanuts over the salad and serve with lime wedges and perhaps another sprinkle of cilantro.