Cold Asian Noodle Salad

Tender rice noodles are paired with spicy radish and refreshing cucumber, all tossed in a sweet and savoury Asian dressing.

So far this summer we have been enjoying lazy mornings, late dinners on the grill and weekends at the cottage. As much as I love comfort food, once May rolls around, I am itching to fire up the grill. I just love thinking up new BBQ side dishes. I usually plan my side dish, then choose a protein to go with it. Tonight I was craving a cold noodle salad.

This salad could not be any simpler. The noodles cook up in no time and the dressing is simple, yet so full of amazing flavour. I decided to add spicy radish, cool cucumber and mild green onion to my salad. I added some toasted sesame seeds for a little extra texture. The kids LOVED it! The dressing was sweet and savoury and the ginger added almost a flowery taste to the noodles. I paired the salad with some grilled shrimp, for a quick, simple and easy Asian inspired meal.

Cold Asian Noodle Salad

1/2 pkg Rice Noodles

5-6 radishes, thinly sliced

1/2 C cucumber, julienned

2 green onions (tops only)

dressing:

1 Tbs sesame oil

1 Tbs brown sugar

1 Tbs soy sauce

1- 1 inch piece of fresh ginger, grated

2 Tbs sesame seeds, toasted

Cut green onion tops into 1 1/2 inch pieces. Cut each piece into thin slivers and add to a bowl of ice water. The ice water will cause the green onion strips to curl.

Place rice noodles in a large bowl and cover with boiling water. Let sit 3-5 minutes and drain using a fine wire strainer. Rinse with cold water and drain by placing strainer on paper towel, to remove excess water.

In a small bowl, whisk the sesame oil, brown sugar, soy sauce and grated fresh ginger. Whisk in 3/4 of the sesame seeds.

Place drained noodles, radishes and cucumber into a large bowl. Pour dressing over all and toss to coat. Let sit while you grill the shrimp.

Before serving, top with green onion and remaining sesame seeds.