Vegan Rice Noodle Salad with Sesame Dressing
Try this Vegan rice noodle salad with sesame dressing recipe.
Try this Vegan rice noodle salad with sesame dressing recipe.
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 2 large carrots
- 150 g vermicelli rice noodles
- 1 english (long) cucumber
- a wedge of red (or any) cabbage
- 2 small spring onions sliced thinly (both green and white parts)
- 10 g dried wakame seaweed
- 20 g pickled ginger sliced into thin strips (optional)
- black sesame seeds for decoration (optional)
- 50 g / 6 tbsp white sesame seeds
- 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil (for flavour)
- 1 tbsp neutral tasting oil
- 4 tsp rice vinegar or lime juice
- 4 tbsp tamari (for gf version) or soy sauce
- 3-4 tsp hot chilli paste (i used sambal oelek) adjust to taste
- Carbohydrate 68.3776628132238 g
- Cholesterol 0 mg
- Fat 0.255071250002158 g
- Fiber 3.94380005800724 g
- Protein 0.672155 g
- Saturated Fat 0.0486951250003884 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (146g)
- Sodium 67.6879062500971 mg
- Sugar 64.4338627552165 g
- Trans Fat 0.0800119999999999 g
- Calories 277 calories
Step-by-step
- Prepare vermicelli noodles according to the instructions. Mine required plunging into freshly boiled water for 2 minutes and then refreshing under a cold tap. Set aside.
- Rehydrate wakame (if using) according to the instructions on the packet. Drain on a piece of kitchen towel to get rid of excess moisture.
- Peel your vegetables and julienne them into thin strips (I used a julienne peeler but you could also use a knife). Reserve the core of the cucumber for another use as it’s too watery for the salad (it will be perfect in a smoothie). Shred the cabbage thinly.
- Lightly roast sesame seeds on a dry frying pan. Be sure to move them around the pan a lot as they burn easily. Take them off the heat as soon as they turn golden brown and become fragrant.
- Using a pestle and mortar, food processor or a coffee grinder grind roasted sesame seeds until most of them are crushed / ground to powder.
- In a separate bowl, mix all the dressing ingredients together, taste and adjust spiciness to your liking. Add crushed sesame seeds and mix well.
- Assemble the salad directly before serving (especially as wakame tends to make the salad watery after a while). Place cold noodles in a large bowl and mix the seaweed and all the vegetables through the noodles – I find that it is best to use my hands to separate these pesky rice noodles more easily. Dot with the dressing and mix thoroughly again. Serve straight away.
Sesame seeds perform the heaviest lifting in this bowl, transforming from tiny pale hulls into a deeply aromatic paste when ground down with a pestle and mortar. Toast them over medium-low heat in a dry skillet, keeping them in constant motion until they turn golden brown and smell nutty; leave them unattended for even thirty seconds and scorching ruins the batch. Rice vermicelli requires strict adherence to timing, needing precisely two minutes in freshly boiled water before an immediate rinse under cold running water to halt residual cooking and prevent a sticky mass.
What to Serve Alongside
Pairing crisp, highly textured elements against soft noodles creates contrast. Pan-seared firm tofu cut into half-inch cubes adds substantial protein weight. Steamed edamame tossed in sea salt rounds out the meal without competing with the dressing. Alternatively, grilled shiitake mushrooms brushed lightly with tamari echo the earthy depth of the wakame seaweed.
Scaling and Kitchen Workflow
Doubling quantities requires working in batches to prevent overcrowding the frying pan during the seed-toasting stage. A food processor accelerates the grinding process when making larger portions, though manual mortar work yields better oil extraction. Assemble components immediately prior to eating, because salt draws moisture rapidly from raw cabbage and julienned cucumber.
