On Tuesday I made Fiery Beef and Rice Noodle Salad. This recipe reminded me of a Vietnamese noodle bowl, and sounded refreshing. I bought some very thin beef (I forget what the package said aside from “bistec”) so it would be easy to cut into strips. I used a small white onion instead of red, and cut the cucumber into matchsticks since I didn’t pay close enough attention to the recipe. I substituted soy sauce for the fish sauce and mixed the habanero into the liquid instead of adding it to the vegetables so that it would be more evenly distributed.
I had a 14 ounce package of rice noodles, so I used between 4-5 ounces (rather than the 2oz the recipe called for) since that’s what I could break off easily. I started cooking the noodles after I had already chopped all the vegetables, and as I started cooking the beef, which meant I was waiting for the noodles to finish and scrambling trying to drain the noodles while not over-cooking the beef. I didn’t chop the noodles.
This recipe came together relatively easily. I think it had just the right amount of heat. I wish I had chopped up the noodles (or rather, had broken them up before I cooked them) so that the noodle salad would have been easier to eat. I liked the bits of basil that you add to the salad at the end. This isn’t an incredibly cold salad, but it’s not warm either since you cool the noodles as soon as you’re done cooking them. Alex and I split the recipe, but it wasn’t a heavy meal, even with the extra noodles.
I enjoyed this dish, and will make it again. I thought it was pretty quick, easy, and healthy. This was a refreshing, light meal.
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