Rice Noodle Salad

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...This is the salad that I promised to share with you yesterday. It is fast and easy to prepare and I like to serve it as part of an Asian-style meal. The ingredient list is spare, but it produces a salad that is a wonderful meal extender and it can be expanded on whim if you want, or need, a more substantial addition to your menu. Because it is such a simple recipe, I wanted to direct you to similar salads developed by other bloggers, so you can see what can be done with a bit more imagination than I managed to muster here. They are all great recipes from great bloggers and I do hope you'll take some time to look at them. Here's my bare bones version of this very common Thai salad.

Rice Noodle Salad...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite courtesy of Gourmet Magazine

Ingredients:
4 ounces thin rice noodles
1/4 cup rice vinegar (not seasoned)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon Asian fish sauce
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 carrot, coarsely shredded
2 scallions, thinly sliced crosswise
1 cup loosely packed mixed fresh cilantro, mint, and/or basil leaves, torn if large
1/4 cup chopped unsalted dry-roasted peanuts

Directions:
1) Soak noodles in hot water 10 minutes, then drain in a large sieve.
2) Cook noodles in a 4-quart pot of boiling water, uncovered, until tender, about 1 minute. Drain in sieve and rinse under cold water until cold. Drain well and pat noodles dry.
3) Whisk together vinegar, sugar, fish sauce, and salt in a large bowl until sugar and salt are dissolved. Add noodles, carrot, scallions, herbs, and peanuts, tossing to combine. Yield: 4 servings.

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