Vietnamese Rice Noodle Salad

Whenever I visit Tacoma, I seem to always end up at Pho 38th. Their rice noodle salad with chicken is simply amazing. It's chock full of vegetables (and flavor!) and yet seems to last and last in your stomach. So, naturally, I find myself needing to recreate this dish at home. The result was so good and so authentic, I urge you to try this for yourself. This recipe serves 1.


Ingredients

Chicken
1 small boneless, skinless chicken breast, sliced thinly
½ tablespoon fish sauce
½ tablespoon brown sugar
½ tablespoon canola oil

Dressing
¼ cup water
3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
½ teaspoon lime juice (or lemon juice)
¼ teaspoon sugar
1 drop chili oil
½ red radish, grated
1 tablespoon grated carrot
1 garlic clove, chopped

Salad
½ cup cooked rice vermicelli
¼ cup bagged coleslaw mix
2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh mint, chopped
3 red lettuce leaves, chopped
¼ cucumber, peeled and cut into matchsticks
½ carrot, peeled and grated
1 green onion, finely sliced on the diagonal
1 handful mung bean sprouts, rinsed
1 tablespoon chopped peanuts

In a small bowl, marinate the sliced chicken in the fish sauce, brown sugar, and oil mixture (start cooking the vermicelli at this time). Heat a frying pan or wok sprayed with oil. When the oil is just below smoking, add the chicken. Fry until it has some good color and is cooked through, about 7–10 minutes.

In a small bowl, combine all the dressing ingredients and set aside to let the flavors meld together.

In a good-sized bowl, place the rice noodles in the bottom. Top (in order from the surface of the noodles) with coleslaw, cilantro, mint, lettuce, cucumber, carrot, green onion, bean sprouts, peanuts, and the chicken. Pour the dressing over top and season with some black pepper, if you wish. Dig in.