Refreshing vermicelli salad

This was inspired from a crab angel-hair salad dish we had at Ambre hotel.

I think that this is a nice change from the plain old lettuce based salad, the Thai dressing gives this a zesty and refreshing kick, perfect for this warm weather. Really easy to make, you can stick to the basic vermicelli noodles, veggies and dressing or decide to add in any extra meat,bamboo shoot etc.

REFRESHING VERMICELLI SALAD: Serves 2

Basic salad:

• About 100 g vermicelli noodles (soak until soft-5 minutes)
• 1 carrot (finely cut into stripes)
• Half a cucumber (deseeded and finely cut into stripes)
• Lots of coriander & mint (finely chopped)

Optional add ins:

• Any type of cooked meat/ seafood (I used a few pan fried scallops)
• Some finely chopped lemon grass
• Dried Chinese fungi (Soaked until soft, chop and boil for 3-4 minutes until cooked)
• Beansprouts
• Fresh chilli

Dressing:

• 4 tsp light soya sauce
• 2 tsp honey
• 4 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp fish sauce
• 3 tsp sesame oil (or olive)
• Half a tsp crushed garlic

1. In a saucepan of boiling water, Blanch the softened vermicelli for about a minute, leave aside to drain and cool.
2. In a large bowl, mix in all the dressing ingredients, the finely chopped vegetables and herbs, finally adding in the cooled vermicelli noodles.
3. Add in any extras, leave the salad to sit for at least 30 minutes so that the dressing is nicely soaked up.
4. Serve on a bed of leafy greens and enjoy with a glass of homemade lemongrass iced tea!:)

I served the salad on a bed of our homegrown lettuce with slices of lemon and topped with pan fried scallops. Above is also part of our breakfast at the hotel. I never realised that the 'toukmaria' seeds served in our famous Alouda drink were known as sweet basil seeds. They look just like chia seeds and when I 'googled' their health benefits, found out that these yummy seeds are used to help relieve constipation, diabetes and lowering high cholesterol levels. Therefore I'm sure that these seeds, so readily available in Mauritius could be used as a substitute for any recipe containing chia seeds due to their similarities.

Also, anyone with a smart phone, download the 'blogilates' app, it's amazing! Exercise videos, clean eats videos, forums etc on the go:)!

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