Thai Fusion Veggie Noodle Salad
In the mood for Thai but not sure if you prefer soup or salad? No need to decide! This Thai Fusion Veggie Noodle Salad offers the best of both worlds: a plethora of veggies, loads of chewy Konjac noodles and an explosion of delicious Thai flavors. All cravings addressed!
I came up with this salad recipe last week, on a night where I really was in the mood for a hot bowl of Thai Coconut Curry Soup but sadly didn’t have all the necessary ingredients. Plus, also felt like I needed to whip up a huge salad, because I had a bunch of veggies that were in dire need of getting used up.
So, I decided to sort of fuse both dishes together, — hence the name Thai Fusion Veggie Noodle Salad — so I would get the best of both worlds.
I totally played it by ear and didn’t measure or write anything down: I just used a little bit of this and a little bit of that and let my creativity (and the content of my fridge) guide me. But the resulting dish was so crazy yummy that I ran to my office the second I finished eating to write down every single ingredient that I’d used to make it. I just had to share this recipe with you, and well, log it so I would get to make it again, and again, and again.
While it does take a little bit of time to prep, and frankly, you practically need to have access to a mandoline if you’re hoping to get it done in an acceptable amount of time, once all the veggies have been chopped up and sliced, the salad comes together in no time.
And that dressing, guys, that dressing! You’re gonna want to bathe in it, and then grab a straw and drink it straight from the tub as you bathe in it. Really. It’s that good!
One last thing worth mentioning before we start: this recipe makes a fairly large batch: it serves 4 people fairly generously, and leftovers don’t keep all that good. So you might want to scale things down if you’re gonna be serving fewer people…
But do make a full batch of the dressing, though. I swear you won’t mind having some of that left and ready for another round…
I chose to use Konjac noodles in this recipe for the very simple reason that I’ve only just recently discovered them and totally fell in love with them! If you haven’t had the chance to try them yet, you totally should! They have a really super cool, slightly chewy and gelatinous texture that goes super good with this salad. They don’t require any cooking, so they are really super quick and easy to use and are a great alternative to grain-based noodles.
If you couldn’t get your hands on Konjac noodles, or didn’t really care to try them either, feel free to use rice vermicelli or your favorite noodles. Just be sure to cook and cool your noodles completely before to use them.
Like I said, Konjac noodles are extremely easy to use… in the present case, simply open the package, place them in a sieve, rinse them under cold running water and let them drain while you work on prepping your veggies. Unfortunately, that next part won’t be quite as quick and easy…
These are the veggies that I used in this recipe but of course, salads being what they are, you can very well sub, replace, remove or add to that bunch to suit your own personal preferences or what you have on hand at the time. For example, the first time around I had used Belgian endives instead of bok choys, and half a dozen of common red radishes instead of the daikon. The sprouts that I had on hand in the original version were a mix of radish, broccoli and mustard. The second time, all I had were lentils. Of course, sprouted mung beans would’ve also worked fantastically well!
The only veggies that I wouldn’t recommend leaving out or replacing are the red cabbage, red bell pepper, carrots and cilantro: they do a lot for the color, texture, flavor and overall experience of this dish. Other than that, feel free to play around with your ingredients…
Also too, there will be A LOT of chopping and slicing and julienning to be made, so I strongly suggest that you use a mandoline to help you with that, otherwise you might still be at it when the morning comes…
But if you happen to have crazy amazing knife skills and an impressive amount of patience, grab your favorite blade and go ahead and knock yourself out!
Now that the veggies have been dealt with, time to make the dressing. While it does call for a lot of ingredients, you basically throw all of them right into the container of a small blender or food processor and blitz them away, so really it’s not that bad.
Just you look at the color of this thing. Oh! How I wish you could take a great big whiff of this. It smells amazing, and tastes even better. Ah… if only they had invented smell-o-screens already!
Now that all your ingredients have been prepped and are ready to go, place all your veggies in a giant mixing bowl — yeah, you’re gonna need a real big one for this — and give everything a good toss with your fingers so it all gets evenly combined. Then, pour that heavenly dressing right on top of this mountain of veggies…
Toss delicately once more, with a pair of kitchen tongs this time, unless you don’t mind getting your hands real dirty…
And there you have it. Your salad is ready to be served. I strongly recommend that you do that without delay. While this salad can sit for a few hours, it does not keep all that great. Well… it will keep for a few days in the fridge, but some wilting is to be expected; so while it will still taste fantastic, you will definitely lose some of the textures and much of the lovely crunch.
So yeah… better eat if fresh, if you can.
Thai Fusion Veggie Noodle Salad
Ingredients
- 14 oz konjac noodles, rinsed and drained*
- 1 small head romaine lettuce, sliced thinly
- 1/4 small red cabbage, shaved
- 2 baby bok choy, sliced thinly
- 2 Lebanese cucumbers, julienned
- 2 medium carrots, julienned
- 1 small red bell pepper, julienned
- 1 2- inch piece daikon radish, julienned
- 1 small bunch cilantro, chopped
- 1 cup lentil sprouts, or other sprouts of your choice
- 4 green onions, sliced
- 1/2 cup cashews
For the dressing
- 3/4 cup full fat coconut milk
- 3 tbsp yellow thai curry paste**
- 3 tbsp creamy peanut butter
- 3 tbsp minced ginger root
- 3 tbsp brown rice vinegar
- 3 tbsp lime juice
- 2 tbsp shiro miso, (white miso)
- 2 tbsp pure maple syrup
- 2 tbsp toasted sesame oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 3/4 tsp salt, I use Himalayan salt
- 1/4 tsp ground white pepper
Instructions
- Prep all the ingredients for the salad and place them in a very large mixing bowl. Toss delicately to combine and set aside.
- Place all the ingredients for the dressing in the container of a small blender or food processor and process until well blended and creamy; pour over the salad, toss delicately with kitchen tongs until all the ingredients are well coated with the dressing.
- Serve immediately or at least within a few hours; this salad does not keep very well. Leftovers will keep for a few days in the refrigerator but some wilting is to be expected.
Notes
Nutrition
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2 Comments on “Thai Fusion Veggie Noodle Salad”
Wonderful recipe, thank you! I followed it pretty closely, only making modifications with the different ingredients I had on hand (green curry paste, red miso, white rice vinegar). I did not have cashews on hand so I threw tofu in the sauce to up the protein-yum! Forgot to add the salt- we did not miss it.
Only mixed up what I was prepared to serve, saved other half of chopped vegetables and sauce for later.
Awesome! Real happy to hear, Sarah! And thanks much for taking the time to share such great feedback. I sincerely appreciate that! 🙂