Vermicelli Noodle Salad

Hello lovely readers! My name is Timothy Pakron, from the blog Mississippi Vegan, and I am so thrilled to be here today. When Jillian and her team asked me if I would like to contribute some recipes to the blog, I squealed with delight! Jilly and I have been Instagram friends for a few years now and we’ve always been fans of each other’s work. Throughout our friendship, we’ve supported each other in coming out with our very own cookbooks and have watched each other grow while inspiring happiness to all. It’s such an honor to be here and I’m so thankful that you’re joining us.

Get to Know Me

Before we dive into the recipe, here’s a little snapshot of me in the kitchen doing my thing! I live in New Orleans (only an hour away from where I grew up in Mississippi). Here I have a kitchen studio where I create, shoot, and style all of the recipes for my very own blog and Instagram. I am a passionate gardener and am in the process of creating a butterfly sanctuary. I’ve been vegan now for 14 years and I love celebrating plants and mushrooms in the most delicious way possible.

Vermicelli Noodle Salad

The recipe I will be sharing with all of you today is an incredibly refreshing and satisfying vermicelli noodle salad inspired by a classic Vietnamese dish known as ‘Bun Chay’. It’s loaded with a ridiculous amount of fresh herbs, sautéed green beans, shallots, crunchy carrots, shredded cabbage, and crisp green leaf lettuce. This is all tossed in a zesty agave lime dressing with fresh chilli and garlic and topped with crispy onions and roasted cashews. Now doesn’t that sound fabulous? With the weather being so hot out, it’s literally the perfect dish to make as it’s great served room temp or even cold.

Worried it might be too difficult to make? Girl, don’t even! It really couldn’t be easier. You simply sauté some green beans and carrots with shallots and seasonings till tender. Then you toss all of that with cooked rice noodles, loads of fresh herbs, the tangy dressing, and top it off with crispy onions and roasted cashews. Told you it was easy!

Vermicelli Noodle Salad

5 from 1 vote

Recipe by From the Kitchen of Jillian Harris

Ingredients

• SALAD

• 10 oz 10 vermicelli rice noodles

• 1 tbsp 1 toasted sesame seed oil

• 3 tbsp 3 avocado or vegetable oil

• 8 ounces 8 green beans

• ½ cup chopped shallots

• 2 tbsp 2 nutritional yeast

• ½ teaspoon black pepper

• 3 tbsp 3 tamari or soy sauce

• 2 tbsp 2 rice vinegar

• 2 cups 2 julienned carrots

• 1 cup 1 chopped cilantro, plus some to garnish

• 1 cup 1 chopped Thai basil, plus some to garnish

• 3/4 cup 3/4 chopped mint, plus some to garnish

• 2 stalks green onion, sliced

• 1 ½ cup green leaf or iceberg lettuce

• 1 ½ cup shredded green cabbage

• ½ cup red pepper, thinly sliced

• Salt and pepper, to taste

• 2 cups 2 crispy onions (about 3 ounces)

• 1 cup 1 roasted salted cashews, roughly chopped

• DRESSING

• ¼ cup fresh lime juice, plus slices to garnish (3 large limes)

• 3 tbsp 3 agave syrup

• 1 tsp 1 garlic chilli paste or sriracha

• 1 small 1 red chilli or Thai chilli pepper (or to taste), thinly sliced

• 1 large 1 garlic clove, minced

• 2 tbsp 2 tamari or soy sauce

Directions

• To make the noodles, bring a large pot of salted water to boil (at least 10 cups to cover the noodles). Once to a boil, add noodles and break up with a utensil. Cook for 7 minutes (or until desired texture). Strain thoroughly under cold water and transfer to a very large bowl. Toss with 1 tablespoon of toasted sesame seed oil to prevent sticking and set aside.
• In a large skillet, drizzle in avocado oil. Bring to medium-high heat and add green beans. Cook for about 8 minutes until they are bright green and tender. Lower the heat to medium and add the shallots, nutritional yeast, and black pepper. Continue to cook, mixing often, for 2 minutes. Add the tamari or soy sauce, rice vinegar, and 1 cup of carrots. Cook for only a minute longer, mixing thoroughly. Transfer the mixture to the large bowl of noodles and toss to combine. Let cool while you make the dressing.
• To make the dressing, combine the fresh lime juice, agave syrup, chilli paste or sriracha, sliced pepper, garlic, and tamari or soy sauce. Whisk vigorously until combined.
• When ready to serve, add the remaining chopped carrots, cilantro, Thai basil, mint, green onions, lettuce, cabbage, and red bell pepper. Pour over the dressing and using clean hands to mix well to combine. Transfer to serving bowl(s) and garnish with a hefty sprinkling of crispy onions, chopped cashews, and a slice of lime to squeeze over top. Sprinkle over some of the reserved fresh herbs and enjoy immediately.

Notes

• If you have an Asian market near you, that would be the best place to shop for these ingredients. Sometimes it can be hard to find Thai basil, vermicelli noodles, and red or Thai chilli peppers at traditional grocery stores. Just a heads up! To bulk this salad up, you can easily add some marinated baked tempeh, grilled tofu, or sliced plant-based chicken. This salad is gluten-free as long as you use tamari instead of soy sauce. If you have a cashew allergy, you can use roasted peanuts instead!

I truly hope that you enjoy this recipe! If you’d like to check out more, I have plenty on my blog and over 125 recipes in my cookbook, Mississippi Vegan. I want to say thank you so very much to Jillian and her team for having me here and please stay tuned for another recipe coming to you all next week as well. Toodles!

Timothy of Mississippi Vegan