Refreshing and healthy Thai style sweet sour noodle

I was going for something different with meehoon (rice vermicelli) other than the usual stir-fry and meehoon soup variations, and I found a recipe for Thai minced beef noodle. This turned out quite refreshing and the boys gave their stamp of approval so I thought I would share the recipe here.

My first attempt turned out pretty successful, and I’ve since modified the recipe, partly because the original was too sweet for my liking and also, I didn’t have any minced beef in my fridge that day! But I did happen to have some leftover steamed chicken so that served just as well.

Ingredients

A. For mixing

200g white rice vermicelli (use brown noodles for healthier option), cooked in hot water and drained.

2 carrots, julienned (or grated coarsely is fine too)

Handful of French/Green beans, chopped small

5 small onions, sliced thinly

2 tomatoes, sliced

Basil

Cabbage, cut small, blanched in hot water and drained

2 red chili, chopped (optional)

B. Protein source

Originally, this called for minced beef, cooked with garlic, ginger, chili, fish sauce and a tablespoonful of honey. Since I didn’t have beef, I made do with leftover emperor-steamed chicken which was already seasoned with garlic and ginger, and shredded the meat. This turned out quite good, and should be suitable for those who don’t take beef.

C. Dressing/Gravy

1/4 cup lime juice

2 large tablespoons of honey

2 tablespoons fish sauce

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon chili flakes

Mix sauce ingredients everything together and leave it aside for the flavours to fuse together.

In a large bowl, add in cooked noodles and toss the ingredients for mixing and meat together. If you prefer your dish to be wetter, pour in all the dressing but do this in measured steps, otherwise once everything is in and you don’t like so much sauce, it’s too late to salvage this. Add salt, pepper to taste.

The sauce gets absorbed into the noodles real fast so be sure to pour this in last. Glass noodles would also be a good alternative for this dish, done in smaller portions, and served as a starter salad. Add lime wedges to serve.