Try Lucy Tweed’s easy noodle nut salad recipe, packed with vibrant veggies, crunchy nuts, and delish dressing. Perfect for a quick, nutritious meal for busy peeps.
By Lucy Tweed
My version of meditation.
There’s a moment in your life when you become aware that you have repeated something so often with mild confidence and calm that you now slip into autopilot when faced with the task. Laundry. Critiquing. Astrology. For me, it’s often dinner. This one sends me into a completely blissful trance.
Serves 6
Ingredients
200 g (4 oz) bean thread (glass) noodles
½ cup (15 g) coriander (cilantro) leaves
½ cup (15 g) shiso leaves
1 spring onion (scallion), green parts only, julienned – but I’ll explain below
1 green papaya
2 carrots
3 Lebanese (short) cucumbers
1 zucchini (courgette)
¼ white cabbage or small wombok
1 cup (115 g) bean sprouts, hairy ends picked off
½ cup (75 g) salted peanuts, toasted and chopped
SAUCE
½ cup (125 ml) lime juice
½ cup (140 g) crunchy peanut butter
3 teaspoons sesame oil
¼ cup (125 ml) maple syrup
1½ tablespoons soy sauce
¼ cup (60 ml) hot water
OPTIONAL INGREDIENTS
Chilli
Method
- Boil a jug of water. Put the noodles in a heatproof bowl and cover with the boiling water. Leave them to cool. They should be soft and salad-perfect when done.
- For the sauce, combine the lime juice, peanut butter, sesame oil, maple syrup and soy sauce in another bowl, then whisk everything together with the hot water.
- Pick the coriander and shiso leaves and place in iced water to perk up.
- Spring onions are fun to make all curly. The trick here is to cut the green bit into 7 cm (2¾ inch) lengths, then open the tube by cutting down one side. Place it flat on a board and thinly slice with the ‘grain’ as thin as you can. Place the strips in iced water and they will curl like crazy.
- Shredding time. Go slow, be meticulous, it will be far nicer to eat.*
- The papaya will have green flesh and is great in this salad. Papaya has to be julienned fresh, but the carrots, cucumber, zucchini and cabbage can be done a day ahead. Just store them in the fridge in an airtight container lined with damp paper towel.
- When you’re ready to serve, place the spring onions and herbs on paper towel to dry off. Then, in a large bowl, style, plonk, twist, place and arrange the tendrils of drained noodles, papaya and veg. Top with the herbs, bean shoots, crunchy nuts and, of course, slaps of dressing.
* If it turns out you like this salad, I highly recommend investing in a julienne peeler.
Images and text from Every Night of the Week Veg by Lucy Tweed, photography by Lucy Tweed. Murdoch Books RRP $39.99.
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