David Atherton's recipe for smoky rice noodle salad

Smoking has been used to preserve food since ancient times. Today it is also used to add extra flavour to food – and I love it. I stumbled across the idea of using lapsang souchong tea to create smoked noodles and there is no going back for me. This recipe is fresh, quick, easy, and smoky. You can use what you have in your cupboard – it’s a great time to experiment. I eat this noodle salad for lunch, but if you want to make it for dinner you can quickly pan-fry fish or tofu with soy sauce to make it more substantial.

Serves 2

For the dressing
50ml vinegar (rice, white wine or cider etc)
40g something sweet (honey, syrup or sugar)
30g nut butter (peanut, almond or cashew etc)
5ml hot sauce (chilli, sriracha or peri peri)
1 tsp salt
2 cloves of garlic, minced
30ml sesame oil
10ml soy sauce

For the noodles
1 carrot
½ cucumber
1 mango
30g herbs (coriander/mint/basil)
Roasted and salted peanuts
5 lapsang souchong tea bags
150g rice noodles

Start by adding all the dressing ingredients to a jar and shaking it. Put aside.

Prepare the vegetables. Peel the carrot into ribbons, cut the cucumber and mango into batons, roughly chop the herbs and smash the peanuts in a pestle and mortar. Toss all of these together in a large bowl.

Boil 500ml of water in a medium saucepan with the lapsang souchong tea bags. Once they have stewed for five minutes, remove the tea bags and add the noodles, simmer for one minute, then allow to sit for three minutes. Take two tablespoons of the water and add to the dressing. Drain the rest and add the noodles to the bowl with the vegetables.

Pour over the dressing, toss and eat straight away.

Comments

Annabel Crabb's passionfruit curd meringue cake recipe

This is a cake that looks handsome on the plate. There are effectively six layers, but because the meringue-topped sponges are baked together, the assembly is simpler than it sounds. The passionfruit curd recipe makes about 320g (1 cup), which is plenty to fill the cake. But do consider doubling it; passionfruit curd is a good thing to have in the fridge. Passionfruit curd meringue cake serves 8 125g unsalted butter, softened 330g caster sugar 4 large eggs, separated 70g Greek-style yoghurt 1 tsp vanilla paste 150g plain flour 25g cornflour 1½ tsp baking powder ½ tsp cream of tartar 125ml thickened (whipping) cream Icing sugar, to decorate – optional Passionfruit curd 55g caster sugar 2 eggs, plus 1 yolk extra 60g unsalted butter, cubed Pulp and juice from 4 passionfruit, strained 1 tbsp lemon juice Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease and line two 20cm springform or loose-bottomed cake tins. Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and 110g of the caster su...

Anna Jones’s late summer sweetcorn and tomato curry recipe

My summer was far too short and I’m not ready to let go just yet. I’m wishing with everything I have for another few weeks of sunshine, dinners outside, feet on grass, iced coffees. I don’t yet feel the lure of crisp autumn leaves, knitwear and bowls of soup ... it will come, I know, but for now I’m hell‑bent on keeping summer going as long as I can. So, this week I am doing all I can to encourage an Indian summer, throwing the final spoils of warm weather into a quick curry with some soft chapatis. My kitchen is still cheerful with bowls of tomatoes, citrus, squash and ears of corn. Late corn, less sweet than its earlier renditions, still in paper husks, is all the better for a gentle braise with some spice and a few tomatoes, easy chapati breads as a sidekick, which are even quite meditative to make. Late summer sweetcorn and tomato curry (main picture) Serves 4 4 eggs Coconut or olive oil 2 tsp cumin seeds 1 tbsp black mustard seeds 2 tsp fennel seeds 1 onion, peeled a...

Soba noodles with prawns, herbs and passion fruit vinaigrette recipe

A pile (or pint) of pink prawns is as British as cricket, but for the purposes of this dish, I think king prawns have more of a wow factor. Serves two. 80ml groundnut oil 4 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed 12 sustainably sourced raw king prawns, shelled but with their tails left intact (or 36 raw British prawns) 1 tsp ground turmeric Salt 170g soba noodles 2 tsp coriander seeds, lightly toasted and gently crushed 1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped 7 passion fruit, pulp strained through a sieve to make 60ml juice 2 limes, juiced, to make 4 tsp 2 tsp fish sauce 1 tsp soft dark brown sugar 15g coriander leaves 10g mint leaves, roughly torn 1 tsp black sesame seeds (or white), toasted Heat 60ml oil in a medium saute pan on a high flame. Add the garlic, prawns, turmeric and an eighth of a teaspoon of salt. Fry for a minute or two, until the prawns turn pink, then tip into a large bowl and leave to cool. They’ll finish off cooking in the residual heat...

I Love Food Recipes

Search This Blog