Thai Starch Noodle Salad
I get so excited when I am cooking with flavors from the Pok Pok cookbook.  These are some of my favorite flavors ever and everything tastes super fresh and unique.  I set out to make a noodle salad from the book but this time I actually changed it a lot to my own tastes. It was such a great lunch and was perfect for leftovers during the week!
All good things in this noodle dish. Â There are two sets of garlic and shallot because some of them are fried first and sprinkled on at the end.
Fried shallot and garlic.
Nice and brown.
Next add ground beef along with some thai chiles and the additional shallots.
Then carrot, ginger, and garlic.
The sauce goes in next. Â It is a mixture of fish sauce, lime juice, pickle juice, sugar, and water.
After the noodles go in, some fried tofu and herbs finish it off.
Top it with that fried shallot and garlic goodness. Â So good.
This dish was best served room temp and was really refreshing and light but hearty and filling at the same time! The thick sweet potato noodles I used really made the dish stand out compared to the thin ones that you often see.
Thai Starch Noodle Salad
Sweet potato noodles tossed with a lime and fish sauce dressing, lots of herbs, and some fried shallot and garlic.
Servings: 5 servings
Ingredients
- 3/4 pound sweet potato starch noodles i used really thick ones
- 2 shallots thin sliced into rings
- 2 cloves garlic thin sliced into rounds
- 16 ounces firm tofu cubed
- 4 ounces ground beef
- 5 thai chiles sliced
- 2 shallots sliced along the grain
- 3 carrots julieneed
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 thumb sized piece ginger minced
- 3 tablespoons fish sauce
- 3 tablespoons lime juice about 4 limes
- 2 tablespoons juice from banana pepper jar you can use juice from any pickle jar
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1/4 cup diced mint
- 1/4 cup diced cilantro
Instructions
- Bring water just about to a simmer and remove from heat. Add the noodles and let sit about 10 minutes until tender. Pour the noodles into a strainer and set aside.
- Pour about 1/4 cup of vegetable oil into a large pan or wok. Bring to a medium high heat and add the rings of shallots. Cook to brown, about 7 minutes, and remove from the oil with a slotted spoon. Put them onto a paper towel and lightly salt. Repeat this step with the garlic chips.
- Add the tofu to the same oil and cook to brown. Stir occasionally and let brown on all sides. Remove from pan to a paper towel lined plate.
- Cook the beef in the same oil on high heat to brown breaking up as you cook it.
- Add the thai chiles and the second round of shallots. Cook 2 minutes.
- Add the carrots, ginger, and garlic and cook 2 minutes.
- Meanwhile, mix the fish sauce, lime juice, pickle juice, sugar and water in a measuring cup. Add this mixture and stir.
- Remove from heat and add the noodles. Stir well. Add in the mint and cilantro and stir well to combine.
- Pour onto a serving platter and top with the fried garlic and shallot. Serve!