Vietnamese spring noodle salad

Recipe Categories : | Vietnamese | All Salads | 

Ingredients :

• Water for boiling
• ½ lb rice sticks - ¼" pieces
• 2 cups fresh snow peas, trimmed
• 16 medium shrimps, shelled
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 shallot, minced
• ¾ cup fresh lime juice
• ½ cup fish sauce
• ½ cup water
• 4 tbsp sugar
• ½ tspn red pepper flakes
• 2 Bibb lettuce heads, leaves separated, rinsed and patted dry
• 3 carrots, peeled and grated
• 3 cups fresh mung bean sprouts
• 1 cup diced cucumber
• 2 scallions, trimmed and thinly sliced
• 1 cup fresh mint leaves
• ¼ cup fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
  
• Note : Bibb lettuce (Mignonette) is a type of butterhead lettuce with loosely formed leaves and soft, buttery texture. It is also known as butter lettuce.

Preparation and Cooking Instructions

1. Bring one large pot and one medium-size pot of water to a boil. Drop the snow peas into the medium-size pot and cook for about 10 seconds (they will turn bright green). Remove them from the pot with a slotted spoon and rinse under cold water.
2. When the water in the medium-size pot has returned to a boil, add the shrimp and cook for 2 minutes, or until opaque. Drain, and rinse shrimp under cold water. Set aside.
3. Add the rice noodles to the large pot of boiling water. Boil for 4-5 minutes, drain, and rinse under cold water.
4. In a small bowl, whisk together the garlic, shallot, lime juice, fish sauce, ½ cup water, sugar, and pepper flakes until the sugar is dissolved. Divide the dressing into four small bowls.
5. Pile the lettuce leaf "cups" in the center of a large platter. Surround the lettuce with separate mounds of carrot, bean sprouts, cucumber, scallion, mint, cilantro, snow peas, noodles, and shrimp.
6. Give each person a plate upon which to put a lettuce leaf cup. Fill each lettuce cup with a tiny bit of ingredient, drizzle with the dressing, and roll up in the shape of a cylinder or alternatively prepare them yourself and place on a serving tray.