Spicy Vietnamese noodle salad with cucumbers and carrots

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 5 cloves garlic
• 5 chili peppers, red, hot
• 1 large lemon(s), only the juice
• 5 tbsp fish sauce
• 5 tbsp rice vinegar, light
• 100 ml water
• 50 g sugar, preferably brown
• 200 g noodles (rice noodles), thin
• 1 large cucumber(s)
• 2 m.-large carrot(s)
• 2 spring onions, alternatively shallots or red onions
• 50 g soy sprouts, fresh, alternatively from the jar
• 3 chili peppers, red, medium hot or hot to taste
• 10 leaves of coriander, cut into fine strips
• 10 mint leaves, cut into fine strips

Instructions

Working time approx. 1 hour; Rest time approx. 10 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 3 minutes; Total time approx. 1 hour 13 minutes

A refreshing and exotic summer salad

For the nuoc cham sauce, peel the garlic and dice finely. Halve the chili peppers lengthwise, remove the seeds and wash, then dice finely. Squeeze the lemons. Combine the fish sauce with the vinegar, water, sugar, garlic, and chili cubes in a small saucepan and heat gently, but do not allow to boil. Remove the liquid from the heat and allow to cool, then stir in the lemon juice. The sauce can be stored in a tightly sealed screw-top jar in the refrigerator for several days. For the noodle salad, soak the rice noodles in warm water for 10 minutes. In the meantime, halve the cucumber and scrape out the seeds with a teaspoon. Wash and peel the carrots. Cut or slice the cucumber halves and carrots into fine strips. Cut the spring onions into fine rings; if using shallots or onions, finely dice or half rings. Clean the bean sprouts, trimming off any brown roots. Place the sprouts in a colander and pour hot water over them, then drain well. Wash the chilies and slice into rings. Remove the noodles from the soaking water and drain well. Then cook in plenty of boiling salted water until al dente. Rinse with cold water and drain well. If desired, you can trim the noodles slightly with kitchen scissors. Mix all ingredients in a bowl with 6 tablespoons of nuoc cham sauce and sprinkle with the herb strips. Use the remaining sauce as a dip for another dish.