I am a huge fan of the entree salad – a big ol’ fully loaded salad for the main dish as a dinner on it’s own. I love to start with some fresh greens, add a nicely cooked (and cooled) protein, some sort of starch, all the yummy veggies and a nice homemade dressing to bring all the flavors together. When it comes to salads, I think it is so important to get lots of different textures playing together in the bowl. This recipe for Crispy Pork & Rice Noodle Salad is a fun summer dish for when you are craving some Asian flavors but you don’t want to heat up the kitchen too much.
Rice noodles are so good to enjoy in a cold preparation. They have really great flavor , they cook up really quickly and more importantly they cool down really quickly. The specific noodles I used are a Vietnamese style. You can find usually them on the ethnic aisle of most grocery stores. If you cannot find the vermicelli style, you can use the small flat style of noodle. It will cook up a little differently but give you the same sort of flavor profile. If you are having troulbe finding rice noodles in your grocery, you could try an Asian Market if therer is on near you. Or there is alway the order it online option – Rice Vermicelli Noodles.
Substitutes and Variations:
You could easily make this a vegetarian meal by simply omitting the crispy pork. Conversely you could just change thr ground pork for pretty much any other ground meat to change the flavor – chicken, beef, lamb, turkey. You would prepare it the same and just cook shorter or longer for the type of meat.
Suggestions for Sides:
I really like to cook up some potstickers to go along with this salad. Another great option is some spring rolls, I usually stick with same protein type but it is certainly not a requirement. If you have a little extra dressing leftover – or you want to make a little extra – it makes a great dipping sauce.
Tools that may make this recipe easier:
Since the noodles are so thin, you really need to have one of those fine mesh strainers, so you do not lose half your noodles out the slots/holes. Other than that you really just need a nice big bowl to make it easy to mix everything together well.
Now Let’s Get Cookin’!
Crispy Pork & Rice Noodle Salad
Ingredients
- 1½ lb Rice Vermicelli Noodles
- 1 English Cucumber cut into 2 inch matchsticks
- 2 Carrots cut into 2 inch matchsticks
- 1 Red Bell Pepper cut into 2 inch matchsticks
- 2 Romaine Hearts chopped
For the Crispy Pork
- 1 lb Ground Pork
- 1 tbsp Cornstarch
- 1 tsp Ground Ginger
- ½ tsp White Pepper
- 1 tbsp Soy Sauce
- ¼ cup Oil
- ½ cup Water
For the Dressing
- ¼ cup Soy Sauce
- ¼ cup Oil
- ¼ cup Lime Juice
- ¼ cup Rice Vinegar
- ¼ cup Brown Sugar
- 2 Garlic Cloves minced
- 1 tsp Ground Ginger
- ½ tsp White Pepper
Instructions
- Combine the dressing ingredients in a mason jar and secure the lid. Shake until well combined and set aside.
- In a small bowl combine all of the ingredients for the crispy pork (except the ground pork) with a whisk.
- Start water boiling for noodles.
- In a large frying pan over medium high heat, add the ground pork. Cook and crumble until no longer pink. Pour the cornstarch mixture over the pork and continue to cook until crispy. Remove from heat and let cool for at least 10 minutes.
- Add the rice noodles to the boiling water. Cook for 4-5 minutes (or as directed on the package). Drain and rinse with cold water.
- In a large mixing bowl, add all of the vegetables, the cooled pork and chilled rice noodles. Toss to combine some and then pour the dressing over the top. Toss more to evenly coat.
- Serve right away or cover bowl and chill in refrigerator for a few hours.
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Estelle Forrest self-published this cookbook after a lot of playing around in the kitchen. You can purchase your own copy here:
AVAILABLE IN PRINT OR KINDLE eBOOK VERSIONS
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