TF was in a salad-y sort of mood, so I spent a while casting around for hearty salads that could be a complete meal on their own. I found this recipe for "Asian noodle salad" on the Woman's Day website. It appears to be inspired by Vietnamese rice noodle salads. It was pretty good, but a bit lacklustre. Adding some chopped roasted peanuts helped. I'd be tempted to add a bit of fish sauce to the dressing next time too. And maybe toss in a grated carrot or two to boost the veggie content and make it a little more colourful and flavourful.

Asian Noodle Salad

Adapted from Woman's Day

Ingredients

• 1 c. mushroom or vegetable broth
• 1 c. water
• 2 c. TVP crumbles
• 150g rice vermicelli
• 1/4 c. seasoned rice vinegar
• 2 tsp. sugar
• 4 tsp. ginger paste, divided
• 1 tsp. fish sauce¹ (optional)
• 1 fresh red Thai chili, sliced crosswise into very thin discs
• 1 red bell pepper, sliced thin and cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1/2 cucumber, quartered and sliced thin
• 85g snow peas or green beans, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1 carrot, grated (optional)
• 1 Tbsp. canola (or other neutral) oil
• 1/4 c. hoisin sauce²
• 2 green onions, sliced
• 1/4 c. roasted unsalted peanuts, chopped
• 1 sprig Thai basil (optional)

Directions

1. Bring the water and broth to a boil, remove from heat and add TVP. Stir to combine, then set aside while you prepare the other ingredients.
2. Pour boiling water over the vermicelli until it's completely submerged. Allow to sit in hot water until softened (~5 minutes). Drain and rinse with cold water. Set aside.
3. Combine rice vinegar, sugar, 1 tsp. ginger paste, fish sauce, and chili and mix well.
4. Add veggies to dressing and stir to combine and thoroughly coat. Set aside.
5. Heat oil over medium-high heat.
6. Add rehydrated TVP and remaining 1 Tbsp. ginger paste. Cook until fragrant (3-5 minutes).
7. Add hoisin sauce and cook for another minute or so.
8. Remove from heat and stir in green onions.
9. Serve noodles topped with veggies and TVP. Garnish with chopped peanuts and Thai basil.

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¹ As implied by the name, fish sauce is not vegetarian. Leave it out if you're trying to keep it vegetarian or vegan. ^Back
2 While hoisin sauce doesn't generally contain any animal products directly, it does contain sugar and other ingredients that typically use animal products in their production. If you want to make this dish vegan, you may need to make your own hoisin sauce or search for a specifically vegan variety. ^Back