What image pops into your mind when thinking about summer? If I had to paint ‘summer’, this dish would be my artwork on a plate. This summer in Sydney has seen blazing sun too often, reaching 38 – 40℃. I have a craving for something light, refreshing, vibrantly delicious and deeply flavoured salad to chill over in the overheated summer for seconds.
It is best to serve cool/cold.
How to make the smoky dressing
The key to making a delicious noodle salad is in the base salsa -vibrant, smoky, light and deeply flavoured. This sauce is versatile – use it as a dip for veggies, meat and fish, sauces for noodles or pasta, salad dressing and spread.
Ingredients
- Red Capsicum: char red capsicum over the direct flame of a stove, or use a torch till it gets charred and blistered. Peel the skin when it is still warm but cool enough to handle
- Red Beet: This gives the noodles a burst of vivid red colour. Small-size roasted beet will be enough. I roast a large batch of beet in one go and freeze them. Same as capsicum, peel the skin when it is still warm but cool enough, which makes peeling the skin easier without much wastage. Roast beet in a preheated oven at 190 ℃ for 30 – 1 and half hours. Depending on the size, roasting time will vary. To shorten its cooking time, peel the skin and cut it into cubes before roasting. Make sure to cover or wrap them with foil to prevent them from being dry out.
- Tomato: Raw tomato – any tomatoes are suitable. But tomatoes with lots of flavours are the best.
- Red Wine Vinegar
- Garlic: Raw garlic as well as Garlic Powder.
- Tahini: It is a Middle Eastern sesame paste. You can easily get it in a supermarket. Alternatively, you can make it simply by blending sesame seeds with vegetable oil in a high-powered blender.
- Smoked paprika powder: this adds smokiness to the sauce
- Olive oil
How to make the noodle salad
This dish does not take long to cook. The longest cooking/prep time is for roasting beets. Roasting beets can take up to 2 hours sometimes if they are pretty big. I recommend that you roast a big batch of beets if you are a regular beet eater or lover. Then individually wrap and freeze them. Defrost beets whenever you need to use them for cooking. Alternatively, peel the skin and dice into small cubes. Sprinkle some olive oil and roast or air-fry for about 15 mins at 180-190 ℃.
After blending all the sauce ingredients in a food processor or blender, mix the sauce with the noodles and desired salad vegetables.
Noodle Salad Ingredients
- Noodles: For best results, use fresh, egg-free Asian thick noodles. Cook according to package instructions, rinse with cold water, and serve chilled.
- White beans: you will need a can of either cannellini beans or great northern white beans.
- Vegetables: For a perfect combination, rockets, chives or watercress leaves, and shaved cabbage can be used.
- Pickled carrot or beet: Vegetables that have been picked are a great addition to this noodle salad. If you’re picking a carrot, try adding a slice of beet to the pickling liquid. This will give the carrot a natural, beautiful red color. Alternatively, you can make an instant carrot pickle by julienning the carrot and then mixing it with vinegar (2 parts), sugar (1 part), and a pinch of salt.
Ingredients
Noodles Sauce Ingredients:
It yields about 350ml.
- 1 small roasted beet
- 1 charred red capsicum
- 2 small tomatoes
- 2 tbs tahini
- 3 tbs red wine vinegar
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1ts garlic powder
- 2 ts smoked paprika
- 1/4cup olive oil
- salt
Noodle Salad Mix ingredients:
- 1/2 cup canned or homecooked white beans (great northern white beans or cannelli beans)
- Chive or rocket
- pickled carrot 1/2 carrot
- shaved/thinly sliced red cabbage 1/2 cup
- Noodles - cooked and rinsed with cold water
Instructions
Blend all sauce ingredients together. Cook fresh noodles according to package instructions, then rinse with cold water and strain. In a large mixing bowl, combine the noodles and sauce. Serve it cool/cold.
Notes
Roasted Beet:
To shorten the cooking time, peel and cube the beets before roasting. Cover with foil to prevent them from drying out. Check the post for more tips.
Sauce Dressing:
You can use the leftover dressing as a dip, spread, or for your noodles and salad dressing.
