This is a good salad for a hot day.
All other ingredients is right just want to confirm that in Vietnam people don't put napa cabbage (chinese cabbage) in noodle salad at all, but regular lettuce! The only cabbage salad dish in Vietnam is the one mixes with boiled shredded chicken and nuoc cham (fish sauce) that sometimes people substitute with napa cabbage. Also, we don't have jalapeno pepper in Vietnam, it's actually red chilly that have bigger size that look like a jalapeno but taste different.
Read MoreI was really excited about this recipe as I've never cooked with rice noodles OR fish sauce before. Well, turns out the fish sauce was just tooooo fishy for my taste but since I was making this for someone else's dinner, I had to make it work. So I added lemon pepper and chopped fresh basil, and it really added the right amount of zing and countered the fish taste.
Read More All other ingredients is right just want to confirm that in Vietnam people don't put napa cabbage (chinese cabbage) in noodle salad at all, but regular lettuce! The only cabbage salad dish in Vietnam is the one mixes with boiled shredded chicken and nuoc cham (fish sauce) that sometimes people substitute with napa cabbage. Also, we don't have jalapeno pepper in Vietnam, it's actually red chilly that have bigger size that look like a jalapeno but taste different.
Our vietnamese resturant closed and I was upset. I started looking for a good noodle bowl recipe and this one is real close. I use a drop of Chili oil instead of a jalapeno. I also use shredded lettace instead of chinese cabbage, because that how the resturant did it. Thank you for the wonderful recipe.
This is a nice light and healthy meal, and very delicious. I substituted kale for the cabbage (for a little more nutrition) and dried thai peppers for the jalapenos. I'll be making this again.
This was really good. I tweeked it with more fish sauce, sugar and topped it off with fried tofu. To save time I used a food processor for the sauce. I will definitely use this again. Thanks!
Tastes very authentic. Good easy recipe. Instead of fish sauce, I used soya sauce. I also used the food processor to chop & combine first few ingredients. I suggest mixing together everything but noodles first, as stirring noodles is difficult -- I used my hands in the end! My hubby added shrimp to his dish, and really liked that.
This was really good. I was worried it would be too garlicky, but the lime juice seemed to mellow it out quite a bit. Next time I'll probably use about half the cilantro. I substituted soy sauce for the veg. fish sauce and it was fine, but it would probably be even better with the real thing. Worthy of a summer potluck or barbecue.
We loved this and the leftovers were still great for lunch the next day! I've never cooked with fish sauce so I was worried I wouldn't like it so I only used 1 tbsp I also only used 1 tbsp of sugar. Then I was a little worried about not having enough sauce so I reduced the noodles to 8 ounces. It didn't taste too garlicky but it was a little hard on the stomach. Next time I might do 4 cloves or just not use the 5 largest ones on the bulb.
Wondeful! Delicious in every way. This is just like I have eaten in many Vietnamese restaurants. Thank you so much!
you might want to use less noodles, makes a lot! and hard to mix, but the taste was good.
Very tasty! I opted out of using the fish sauce, and just added a bit more salt. DH also put some hot sauce on his. We decided to eat it w/ chicken, so I skillet-cooked bits of boneless, skinless chicken breast sprinkled w/ salt, pepper, and a generous amount of rosemary.
I would give this 10 stars if I could. I LOVE this dish and never thought it would be so easy to make at home. Please give the real fish sauce a try it just adds something special. I think people are intimidated by there being fish in it but Worcestershire has anchovies and it's common. Anyway, I used serrano chili just a personal preference and added some grilled chicken. Next time I will make more sauce. Thanks so much!
Very good and authentic taste. I have made twice and second time added 1/4c of water to the sauce and decreased the garlic to 4 cloves (and I LOVE garlic, but it was just too strong). I used normal fish sauce and bbq'd some chicken breast which I sliced and served with. Big hit with the whole family who all love Vietnemese noodles.
This salad was pretty good. Nothing to rant and rave about. It's a good summer salad obviously.
This was pretty good. It was WAY too garlicky for my taste and I like garlic! I think 2-3 cloves would have been plenty in the dressing. I added some tofu too. Good recipe to start from and all of the cilantro in it tasted great! Thanks!
I was really excited about this recipe as I've never cooked with rice noodles OR fish sauce before. Well, turns out the fish sauce was just tooooo fishy for my taste but since I was making this for someone else's dinner, I had to make it work. So I added lemon pepper and chopped fresh basil, and it really added the right amount of zing and countered the fish taste.
Very tasty -- definitely got the Vietnamese flavor. I think the carrots would be better sauteed along with the garlic, but, I haven't tried that yet. Also, be careful on how much pasta you make! You can easily overwhelm the amount of sauce made. I will make it again, but with those changes.
This was a good salad, but 2 minutes to cook the noodles was not enough. Next time I will follow the directions for cooking the noodles on the box.
Awesome dish! It is still pretty warm here in Texas, and in honor of "the last official day of summer" I made this light and refreshing dish last night. It is perfect and tastes authentically Vietnamese. I did not use fish oil, but light soy sauce instead, which worked perfectly. I love spicy food so I left the seeds and pulp of the jalapeno in the dressing. I believe this would be too intense for some, so the original recipe is worth sticking to. Thanks for this!
Yum yum!!! I added some satay-marinated chicken on top to make a meal in itself. It is the perfect summer dish as it requires little cooking/time in the kitchen. I recommend making a double batch of the sauce; you'll want to eat it out of the bowl! Will definitely be making this again
I really liked this salad, it was just different from the regular summer pasta salad I would normally make for BBQ's or picnics. I added a bit more sugar, used lettuce as opposed to cabbage and added some snap peas. It was a huge hit, and I think I have already handed out the recipe a half a dozen times. Worth trying forsure.
Great flavor! I added 1/2lb of fresh steamed shrimp and it was delicious and light.
Light refreshing salad. You can add any different kind of vegetables that you have at hand. Snow peas are especially good and so is asparagus.
I LOVE this dish! It's one I discovered at a Vietnamese French Bakery/Cafe in Bellingham, WA years ago and it's taken me a long time to find a recipe for it because I didn't know what it was called. I sometimes make it with Kelp noodles which are practically zero carbs and zero calories. You could also make it with shiratake tofu noodles for the same low-carb/low calorie dish. I always put some satay chicken in it for a complete meal! The only change I make is to add some water to the sauce to make it less "fishy".
This was very good and used soy sauce instead of fish sauce and it was a hit with the family. Great quick healthy lunch!
Easy, relatively fast, delicious recipe. Could have a little less garlic, by even just one clove, and would be a little less hard on the stomach and breath. Nonetheless, yum!
I also added ground pork sauted in garlic and onions and it makes a complete meal!
My husband and I LOVED this recipe! I used chopped romaine and kale instead of cabbage and added crushed red pepper because our jalapeño wasn't hot. We took the suggestion from another review and used our hands to mix all the ingredients for only two servings in one large bowl. That way the left over lettuce wouldn't be soggy for tomorrow. We will make this again and again!
Delicious flavor, just like the vermicelli bowl from our local Vietnamese restaurant. I subbed soy sauce for fish sauce and added grilled shrimp.
This is a great recipe. For our taste I changed a few things. I only use one clove of garlic. 5 was way to much. I also do not use jalapeno's. Instead of 3 tbs fish sauce I use 1 tsp just to add a hint of flavor. Also I use just a few leaves of mint so as not to overpower the salad. We omit the cabbage. As garnish we leave out chili garlic and peanuts to add optionally. The flavors blend over time so this is best on the 2nd day. Nice light fresh flavor for summer.
I love Vietnamese food and usually love this salad. either I messed something up or this is a messed up recipe. I did not like it at all.
Good flavor but it needs to be eaten right away. The noodles dry out and get hard quickly in the fridge. After reading reviews I decided to cut the garlic in half but otherwise I followed the recipe pretty closely. I did have to sub bok choy leaves for the napa cabbage due to availability at my grocery store. If I were to make this again I think I'd use a different kind of noodle, such as soba, a spicier chili pepper (like a Thai pepper) add some shrimp.
This is a fantastic recipe. Perfect in summer when you don't want a hot meal. I added some grilled lemongrass beef skewers to complete the meal (I believe that with the grilled beef, this is an 'authentic' vietnamese meal). I left out the mint (don't like it) and substituted shredded iceberg lettuce for the cabbage (didn't know what napa cabbage was). Also added some shredded capsicum (what you americans call 'peppers' I think). All in all a very tasty cold noodle meal!
Lovely fresh salad, I used soy instead of fish sauce and a little more lemon juice, I also minced the mint into the dressing and added lettuce not cabbage, A nice light fresh salad on a summers day, good with grilled chicken or shrimp added
Great recipe, really easy to make and doesn't take too long. Tastes just like the vietnamese noodles at the restaurants. Only thing was that mine didn't have as much flavor as I'd like (i like a lot), probably should've made some more sauce. Will definitely make this again.
I've made this a few times and this salad is so delicious and easy to make! I removed the peanuts due to personal preferences and added edamame for some texture. To make it more of a meal, I sometimes add cold leftover chicken or add shrimp to make it a complete meal.
A very nice and light dinner on a hot summers night! My partner and I used iceberg lettuce and red chili as recommended in another review. We also added chicken which we marinated in garlic, ginger, hoisin sauce and a splash of soy sauce. We BBQ'd the chicken and added it on top of the salad. Delicious! We will definitely be making this one again! Thank you!
Oh I really didn't like it. I made extra sauce and I felt like it still needed more. The flavor was okay. It called for a whole lot of noodles which I thought was way too much. Not close enough to the restaurant style I was looking for but not gross enough for me not to finish (well eat until I was full).
I had half of this as a full meal and loved it (big meal). Only thing I changed was from jalapeno pepper to sriracha sauce (couldn't find the pepper). After I cooked the noodles 4 minutes, I cut them into shorter pieces using kitchen shears, making it easier to mix and eat. Only hard part of making this was julienning the carrots. I need to find a machine that really works for that. The flavor got better and better as I ate so I will let it set and mellow next time (only made half the recipe so don't know how long it can mellow before drying out the noodles.
So good! I substituted soy sauce with fish sauce and it turned out fine. The noodles I used were banh pho noodles, which were the perfect texture. Definitely will try again! :)
Liked alot though changed up the sauce (not as much chilantro, etc) and will continue to change up as it was still not quite right. Also used romain lettuce instead of cabage.
This is very good! It's really easy and very light. Perfect summer side dish. Everyone was going back for seconds.
Really good! I like to add roasted red beef or pork to make it even more authentic, like the ones I get from vietnamese restaurants or asian shops. I use packaged shredded lettuce for ease. The sauce makes this kind of recipe and the only thing I don't like much is the sauce in this recipe so I used a similar sauce from the Vietnamese Fresh Spring Rolls recipe instead---perfect!
This was delicious, but I'd do a few things differently next time. Having never worked with rice noodles before, I learned that they really should not have to sit too long before being used. They can turn to mush fairly easily. I'd cut the cukes into smaller pieces too. If you've got the time, making the fish sauce ahead so that the flavors can marinade together wouldn't hurt. For a more protein-rich option, I added sliced, grilled chicken breast. All in all, a very tasty meal!
loved it served with a grilled blackened snapper marinade in soy-lemon-fresh ground pepper and stir fried snap peas. next time I will use much less sugar. Note; rice noodles cook to al dente fast, so I gave them less time in the boil and rinsed in ice water.
Delish!!! I added a few thinly sliced scallions into the mix as well! We LOVED this!
I used 16 oz. of noodles (package size), boiled shrimp separately and added, doubled sauce, use shredded iceberg lettuce instead of cabbage and followed everything else exactly including garlic and cilantro quantities. Very yummy! Wish I had thai chilis!
We love this recipe. It is light, healthy, delicious, and definitely something different from my other dishes. I serve it as an entree, by adding some type of grilled or roasted fish or meat. The recipe is delicious as is, so I have made just a few modifications. The biggest one is to cut the raw garlic way back. I use a single clove or two, just as I would with any other salad dressing. I only use 8 oz (1/2 package) of rice noodles or rice sticks, and this seems about the right ratio for the other ingredients. I omit the cabbage, because it doesn't seem to add anything. Last of all, I serve the chopped peanuts on the side, and we both add a lot of them because they really seem to add something.
I made this with minor changes due to being unable to locate rice noodles today. I used some ramen-like asian noodles instead. My package was 8oz and it made 4x what I needed so I don't know if you really need 12oz of rice noodles based on the quantity of sauce. I used hoisin sauce instead of fish sauce and added 1 tbsp of rice vinegar at the end just to help blend the flavors. I chilled it and served it cold with the "Asian Salmon Cakes with Creamy Miso and Sake Sauce" recipe from this site along with some steamed baby bok choy. It was a great dinner. Will make this again.
Absolutely loved it with my changes. Recipe serves 2 not 4 (provides generous amount of dressing). 3 garlic cloves. No jalapeno; use 1/2 to 1 tsp (to taste) Sriracha sauce. Use 3 TBSP fish sauce as directed for authentic flavor. 1 TBSP sugar. FRESH squeezed lime as directed. Add 1 tsp hoisin sauce to dressing. Peel and remove seeds from 1/2 cucumber; julienne into 1 1/2" strips. Remove center of 8 small-medium sized napa cabbage leaves and julienne. Use 2 servings soba noodles-2 oz dry (healthier and better texture). Mix carrots (use salad shooter/food processor on two small carrots), cilantro into dressing but not cucumber, mint or napa. Place cooled soba noodles into dressing and let sit 5 minutes. Place napa in bottom of each individual bowl. Add noodles, using tongs so dressing remains. Layer with cucumber and mint. Pour remaining dressing into bowls. Add chicken (or shrimp or tofu or beef): saute chicken thighs in canola oil with 1 TBSP peanut butter, 1 tsp soy sauce, 1 tsp grated ginger, 1/2 tsp sesame oil; cook thoroughly; slice into thin strips and place on top of bowls. This is a full meal!
I added grilled pork on top of the dish for my meat loving husband. excellent recipe, will make it again.
I omitted the jalapeno as I don't care for them, and used cashews instead of peanuts as that's what I had on hand. This was pretty good, but I didn't like the rice noodles at all - the texture was a little slimey and unpleasant. If I were to make it again, I would use angel hair pasta instead.
This was exactly the sort of salad I was hoping to find. I loved the fresh mint/lime/peanut combination. The only change I made was to decrease the fish sauce (because my husband hates it), which I subbed with a little salt.
I made it the first time exactly by the recipe. It was great, really good. But I thought the noodles were a little too wide and the salad needed something a bit more delicate. So I used cellophane noodles the second time around, and that was just perfect. On my second try I also added chopped canned straw mushrooms, thinly sliced mini-bell peppers, and chopped green onions. All the additions went very well with the taste of the sauce/dressing. I really enjoy this salad, and although it's a bit too labor intensive to qualify as a quick dish, one recipe makes enough for two or three days' worth of lunches. This is definitely a keeper recipe.
Everyone LOVED it. I made a double batch of this salad for a picnic. The next day I served it to my in-laws. The 3rd day I took some to work for lunch. We never got tired of it and it was just as good on the 3rd day as the first. I modified by adding hot chili oil because my peppers were quite mild and I used baby bok choy instead of napa cabbage. I also added raw pea pods.
This is absolutely delicious. I didn't put in the jalapenos and mint, though, because I didn't have any, and i will leave out the cukes next time (personal preference). I'd love to figure out a way to get rid of all of the water that the cabbage releases (you'll see with leftovers) ahead of time. Maybe cut it, let it sit overnight in the fridge with a bit of vinegar, then drain before adding to the rest of the salad? I don't mind floppy cabbage myself. I don't know - I'm not a pro by any means!
Great dish for a quick evening meal. I added sliced roast chicken over the top and poured the sauce over the entire dish. Hmmmm yum
I used romaine and spinach instead of the napa cabbage. It was delicious! I'd definitely make this again!
This was great! Lovely flavors. Tastes a lot like what I have had at a Vietnamese restaurant.
Why do reviewers tell us to sub lettuce for the cabbage? I did and the lettuce wilted and turned to a dark, slimy mess! Otherwise it was a tasty recipe. I'm not sure this makes enough sauce. Next time I'll make more and I might use a bag of slaw (cut up cabbage and carrots.) It takes a long time to julienne carrots unless you are really good at it. Much easier to julienne a red bell pepper and the color is very nice.
I used real fish sauce because I didn’t have vegan. Next time will add more jalapeño to the sauce because it wasn’t spicy but still had a great flavor. I used purple cabbage. Loved it.
With 3 tablespoons of fish sauce, I had adjust the dressing by doubling the lime juice to dialed down the saltiness and add a tablespoon plus of sambal oelek as it was not spicy at all. The foundation of ingredient was great.
When my family has seconds I know it's a good dish. It was flavorful and yummy. I will make again. It is a great Summer dish.
very good on a hot day only had to boil the noodles. I added bean sprouts and tofu cutlets because I wanted to.
I added some hot chili sauce for a little kick... it was GOOD!!!
Just the recipe I was looking for. I didn't have mint or cabbage but it was fine just the same.
made it with 8 oz of rice linguine noodles, cooked 5 min. makes great leftovers . I used 1 Tablespoon of sugar. 2 T fish sauce, 1 T soy
The cilantro dressing is soooo good! This can totally be an entree if you add some meat to it, but it is totally fine by itself! The only thing I changed was subbed hoisin sauce and soy sauce for the vegetarian fish sauce (allergic) and omitted the cabbage. Yum!
Loved this recipe! Easy to make and a light/refreshing, yet very flavorful salad. Reminded me of what my mom used to make when I was growing up. You can add other vegetables as well (I added some sauteed and cooled mushrooms, green beans, and snap peas). I used Squid brand fish sauce (not marked as gluten free, but does not contain MSG, no added preservatives, or colors). Took a risk, but did not have a gluten reaction! The only change I would make to the recipe is to not toss everything together, except for noodles + sauce. Instead place a portioned nest of noodles in bowl, add veggies and nuts, etc. Or don't combine noodles with sauce and just add to individual servings. Allows people to add whatever veggies they want and sauce to their own taste preference too. Will make this recipe again!
I tried this recipe for the first time tonight and my whole family absolutely loved (devoured) it! I added 2 cups of chopped up BBQ pork (cha-siu) bits to the salad and served it as the main course. Vietnamese rolls for appetizers; and shrimp & snap pea stir-fry as a side dish.
I made this for a family reunion a couple of days ago, and it has great flavor! I used regular cabbage so it wouldn't wilt too quickly and just used a potato peeler to get thin strips of carrot. I also added a teaspoon of sesame oil because I like the flavor. I saw that the prep time for the recipe is 15 minutes, and I don't know how that is possible. Maybe after you've rinsed and chopped everything?
I thought this was quite good but could have used a bit more dressing. I used 2 red chili padis instead of jalapeno (jalapenos aren't Vietnamese!) and put the cabbage in with the noodles to cook. Also reduced the fish sauce to 2 tbsp and sugar to 1 tbsp. It was missing something...not sure what...but still pretty good.
We found it to be just okay. Would not go out of our way to make it again, but if the ingredients were handy and it was a hot day....maybe. Nothing bad, nothing good - - just very average.
