My sweet sister introduced me to Vietnamese and Thai food. She has a great taste for delicious ethnic flavors. One of the first dishes she recommended to me was the Vermicelli Rice Bowl. I was in heaven from the first bite. The great thing about this dish is that it perfect for vegetarian and meat-eaters alike (just throw on some grilled shrimp or chicken and voila). It has the freshness of a delicious salad (due to the lettuce base) but also has noodles as the “meat” of the dish. It is just the right combination of flavors for a fantastic meal.
The thing with this recipe is that it is more of a list of ingredients rather than actual measurements. You are basically just preparing each plate with an amount that you choose. Here is a basic list:
Chopped romaine lettuce
A large handful of bean spouts
A large handful of Rice noodles (found at any Asian store)*
Carrots, julienned
Cucumber, cut matchstick style
Chopped mint leaves
Chopped cilantro**
* I had an Asian chef teach me the secret of “3” when preparing the noodles. 3 minutes in boiling water, then 3 minutes resting in the water with the heat turned of and then 3 minutes rinsing with cold water. This will give it the perfect consistency without the sticky starch.
**in the picture above I decided to put the freshly chopped herbs directly into the dressing. The taste was fine, but the herbs looked soggy and didn’t distribute evenly. From now on I will put them directly onto the salads.
Dressing:
1/3 cup fresh lime juice
1/3 cup water
1/4 cup fish oil
1/2 TBS chili garlic sauce
2 TBS agave nectar
Source: WFM 1-10