fresh asian noodle salad

method

Soak the noodles in a bowl of warm water until soft, then drain and put back in the bowl. In a hot wok fry the beef and five-spice powder in the olive oil until brown and crisp, then add the garlic, ginger, shrimp and sugar and stir-fry for another 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir the wok mixture into the noodles. Add the scallions, lime juice, fish sauce, chillies, cilantro, mint and peanuts to the bowl. Toss well and correct the seasoning — it should be quite zingy with the lime juice. Sprinkle with some extra herb leaves if you like and serve cold.

Try this: You can modify the recipe by using a little stir-fried squid, shellfish or different ground meats.

serves:

ingredients

SERVES 4
101/2 oz cellophane noodles or beanthread noodles
7oz ground beef
2 teaspoons five-spice powder
5 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and grated
• 2 heaping teaspoons of grated fresh ginger
• 51/2 oz cooked peeled shrimp
• 3 teaspoons sugar
• 1 bunch of scallions, finely sliced
• 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 2 fresh red chillies, seeded and finely sliced
• 1 handful of fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1 handful of fresh mint, chopped
• 2 handfuls of roasted peanuts
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper