Goi Mien: Vietnamese salad with glass noodles and chicken

Ingredients for 2 servings:

• 200 g chicken breast fillet(s)
• 100 g glass noodles
• 1 cucumber(s)
• 2 tomatoes
• 1 onion(s), red
• 2 lettuce hearts
• 1 piece(s) lemongrass
• 1 shallot(s)
• 1 piece(s) ginger root
• 1 lime(s)
• 2 tsp fish sauce
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1 pinch(s) of sugar
• 1 pinch(s) of pepper
• Oil for frying
• 1 bunch of coriander
• 1 handful of peanuts, roasted

Instructions

Working time approx. 35 minutes; Rest time approx. 15 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 15 minutes; Total time approx. 1 hour 5 minutes

Soak the glass noodles in lukewarm water for 15 minutes. Cut the chicken breast fillets into strips and set aside. Finely chop the cucumber, tomatoes, and lettuce hearts. Dice the red onion. Place everything in a large bowl. Chop the cilantro for garnish and set aside. Finely dice or chop the lemongrass, shallot, and ginger and set aside. For the dressing, squeeze the lime and mix the juice with the fish sauce, salt, sugar, and pepper. Drain the glass noodles, then chop them finely with kitchen scissors and place them in a saucepan. Pour boiling water over the noodles and blanch for 2 minutes, then strain them in a sieve. Add oil to a hot pan and fry the lemongrass, shallot, and ginger mixture until golden brown. Then add the chicken breast fillet and fry until crisp. Finally, mix all ingredients well in a large bowl. Arrange the salad on plates and garnish with the chopped cilantro and roasted peanuts. In this version, the glass noodle portion is rather small, but you can increase it a bit if you like. It’s normal to use very little dressing, but I think this way the different flavors come through better. If you like more dressing, you can experiment a bit, but be careful with the fish sauce.