Thai glass noodle salad – Yam Woon Sen

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 1 tbsp oil
• 250 g minced pork, lean minced chicken or small, cooked peeled shrimp
• 3 tbsp broth
• 6 tbsp lime juice
• 4 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tbsp chili paste, roasted (Nam Prik Paw)
• 1 cm ginger root, finely chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 6 shallots, red (Thai or small red onions)
• 5 Thai spring onions, alternatively 2 – 3 European
• 2 stalk(s) Celery (Thai-), alternatively 2 stalks European
• 100 g glass noodles
• 2 tbsp coriander, roughly chopped, with stems
• lettuce
• possibly peanuts
• possibly chili pepper(s), chopped

Instructions

Working time approx. 20 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 10 minutes; Total time approx. 30 minutes

a light salad that tastes best when served lukewarm

Blanch the glass noodles in boiling water, let stand for 10 minutes, then drain well. Cut into 5 cm long pieces. Peel the onions and cut into thin wedges, and thinly slice the celery and spring onions. Heat the oil, sauté the garlic and ginger, but do not brown them. Then add the minced meat, fry briefly, and deglaze with the stock. Cook for 2-3 minutes, roughly crumbling the minced meat. Mix the fish sauce, lime juice, and chili paste, pour over the meat, and continue simmering for a short time until the meat is tender. If using cooked shrimp, no cooking time is required. Simply stir in the shrimp and heat briefly. Once slightly cooled, stir into the noodles and vegetables. Fold in the herbs and serve on lettuce leaves. Sprinkle with chopped chili and/or peanuts, if desired, and garnish with some coriander. Note: The amount of lime juice and fish sauce seems quite large. However, glass noodles bind a lot of the seasoning, so the salad isn’t overly spicy. The chili paste, which is quite sweet, also gives the salad the necessary sweetness. If it’s still too sour for you, add a little sugar.