Wow, we are going through one big heat wave! Last thing we want to do is fire up the stove. Given that it is 94F outside at the moment even the outdoor grill is not appealing.
Our garden is brimming with veggies I decided to make ‘noodles’ with my handy dandy Japanese mandoline, the Benriner. With the medium ‘teeth’ julienne blade, I cut up cucumbers, zucchini, carrots from the garden and some jicama and savoy cabbage from the frig. I sprinkled some sea salt on the veggies and let them drain for about an hour so I didn’t end up with a water logged salad. Then I added some finely sliced red onion, jalapenos, cilantro, mint and basil. For good measure I tossed in some blanched pole beans cut into 1/2 inch pieces. Umm, so I guess I did have to turn on the stove…but with the garden producing a pound of beans a day I had to make the sacrifice.
Dressing it was pretty simple – limes from the garden for the acid, sucanat to sweeten, a splash of tamari, a glug of olive oil, sea salt, lots of minced ginger, a clove of minced garlic and a big pinch of Korean chili flakes.
Cooking Tip: for a quick mince use the microplane zester. Just ‘grate’ the ginger and clove of garlic on this super sharp zester.
Another great dressing would be the dressing for the traditional Thai green papaya salad which has lime juice, palm sugar, garlic, Thai chili bird peppers, dried shrimp, fish sauce and crushed peanuts. Yum.
There you go – a nice Asian inspired ‘noodle’ salad. Serve this well chilled. It would be a nice side to grilled prawns, fish, steak or pork tenderloin. Oh, we can’t forget that nice cold bottle of beer 😉
Enjoy!
