MANGO, CHILLI AND LIME NOODLE SALAD.
INGREDIENTS
SALAD
500g fresh egg noodles (dried noodles would be fine)
1 mango (peeled and sliced in matchsticks)
4-5 of spring onions (finely sliced)
½ cucumber (peeled and thinly sliced)
2 carrots (peeled and sliced in matchstick)
Handful of roughly chopped coriander
50g peanuts
2 shallots (thinly sliced - if you don’t want to fry these yourself, you can buy them already fried, dried and crispy!)
Rapeseed or sunflower oil for cooking.
DRESSING
1 red chilli ( thinly sliced - up to you if you want the seeds for extra heat!)
2 cloves of garlic (minced)
Juice of 2 limes
2 tbsp coconut sugar or dark muscovado sugar
2 tbsp fish sauce (if you want the dish to be plant based you can find vegan fish sauce or use soy as an alternative)
METHOD
Cook the noodles in a hot pan with a little oil, for 3-4 mins, then transfer to a bowl and leave to one side.
Make the dressing. Combine all the ingredients together, mix well. Or make in a jar with a lid and give it a really good shake! Taste to make sure it has the right balance of flavours and adjust accordingly.
In a small saucepan add your oil to cover the bottom for 4-5cm, wait till hot enough to cook, if you add a little of your shallot and it sizzles you are ready to go. Carefully add the shallot to the pan and leave till golden and crispy. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on some kitchen towel.
Making the salad, is simply having the mango, vegetables and herbs prepped.
Roughly chop your peanuts and dry roasting them in a pan for a couple of minutes.
Now we can assemble, in a large bowl add your noodles, mango and vegetables, ¾ of your coriander and ½ nuts.
Pour over the dressing so its well coated and gently combine well.
Just before serving add final flurry of coriander, crispy shallots and nuts. As I write this, I cannot wait till it’s time to eat!. It’s a good recipe to prep in advance too. Certainly a few hours won’t do it any harm, in fact the dressing gets absorbed by the noodles - yum!