Asian Noodle Salad

Once upon a time, I had a roommate who introduced me to the wonders of Vietnamese spring rolls. She took me to a tiny hole-in-the-wall restaurant that, after over 3 years of living in Tucson, I still didn't know existed. I was so impressed with the flavors in that spring roll. The chewy noodles, the fresh cilantro, the perfectly seasoned shrimp, the salty/sweet dipping sauce. Yum... 

So when I found a salad recipe much like this, I knew I had to make it ASAP. And when I say ASAP, I mean I went to the grocery store early the next morning (I found the recipe late at night) and made it that very day. We've both eaten two meals of it now, and it still has a way to go, but we're okay with that!

This is one of the most delicious, wonderful, filling, gigantic, delightful, and flavorful salads I've ever made. Even the hubster loved it. I can't believe how filling it was. It's beautiful, colorful, and doesn't taste healthy. It just tastes - good.

There are a lot of ingredients, but they are ALL completely and totally worth it.

For the salad you'll need three peppers thinly sliced (the more colorful, the better), 1/2 head of purple cabbage - thinly sliced, 4 green onions - thinly sliced, 1-2 cups bean sprouts, 2 cups baby spinach, 2 cucumbers peeled and thinly sliced, one bunch of cilantro roughly chopped, and one box of linguine noodles, cooked and cooled. I used some whole grain noodles and you couldn't even tell the difference because of all the other ingredients.

For the dressing you'll need the juice of 1 lime, 1/2 c. olive oil, 1/2 c. low sodium soy sauce, 2-3 tbsp. sesame oil, 3 tbsp. finely minced fresh ginger, 2 cloves garlic - minced, 2 serrano peppers finely minced, and 1/3 c. brown sugar.

Does anyone else think that vegetables are gorgeous? I really do and am probably up for some sort of psychiatric evaluation because of it. Look at the color and texture of the cabbage. Come on. Its gorgeous. And I firmly believe you are what you eat. I eat gorgeous veggies, therefore I am gorgeous. However, I also eat ice cream and brownies and donuts...

Chop, chop, chop. Am I the only one who really enjoys chopping vegetables? There's something soothing about the rhythmic sound of the knife hitting the cutting board. I just focus on the beautiful vegetables and chop. I don't think about anything else. It's quite a lovely experience.

Green onions. I'm starting to try to grow my own. I will let you know how if it works out. If not, I'm just going to have a funky glass of onions in water on my counter.

I had never peeled cucumbers before this. I may or may not have rushed while doing this. I like chopping, peeling is a completely different story.

Place them all in the biggest bowl you can find. And I recommend a much larger bowl than this, because we had some SERIOUS stirring issues.

Nom. Colorful veggies.

Put the chopped cilantro on top of your bowl smack dab in the center.

Here's the part where I'm a bad blogger. I forgot to photograph my noodle adding skills. I'm sorry. I'll try to describe what it looked like to you as best as I can.

I put some cooked, cooled, and rinsed noodles on top of the bowl. Then, I mixed it all together Whew. That was stressful.

Now make your dressing. Put your oils and soy sauce in a bowl.

Add everything else and whisk it together until the sugar dissolves. Boom done.

I took a portion of my salad (what we were going to eat that night) and put it on a platter. I then added about the same fraction of the sauce and tossed it all together to make this hot mess of a salad. There's so much salad and not that much stomach room between the two of us, so I only did this. The plate shown is maybe 1/3 of the total salad. Can you say lunch tomorrow.

Don't mix the entire salad with the dressing unless you are planning on eating it ASAP, because the dressing will cause the veggies to wilt if then stored in it.

Grab a fork and dig in!

P.S. I hope you like the little glimpse of my slipper down in the bottom of that picture. Man, how I wish it was socially acceptable to wear those bad boys out of the house.

Eat and feel healthy! And full. And Asian. And decadent. And lovely.

Okay. Just eat it.