smoked tofu and rice noodle salad

It’s 32c outside. Inside I revel in the guilty pleasure of the air conditioner doing its stuff. Such weather calls for cool food, cuisine from the tropics. Little or no cooking is also mandatory as who’d want to hang over boiling pots in this kind of heat, let alone turn on the oven. Energetically tofu is considered ‘cooling’ so it is a great excuse to create a salad around it. While this dish can be made with plain tofu, the smoked variety has more flavour. This version is similar to a salad that appeared in the early hours of the first day of 2006 – a night 10c warmer than this one! Assemble it and dress before throwing in the fridge, then linger over an icy beverage til you are ready to eat.


Smoked tofu and rice noodle salad

1 packet of rice vermicelli noodles
1 large carrot, grated
1 small Lebanese cucumber, diced
1 handful of green beans, blanched
2 spring onions, thinly sliced
1 handful of raw cashew nuts, roughly chopped
1 packet of smoked tofu, diced
1 large handful mint/Vietnamese mint/coriander (depending on availability)

Dressing
fish sauce
lime juice
palm or caster sugar to taste
a dash of roasted sesame oil (optional)


Soak the vermicelli in boiling water for a couple of minutes til softened, then drain and refresh in ice water. Once chilled, drain well and add the remaining ingredients.

The dressing is made by taste – a balance of the saltiness of the fish sauce, a little tang of lime juice and sugar to cut the harshness. Add a little water if it is too strong for your palate. A dash of dark sesame oil can give it a nutty edge if desired. Mix well.

Add the dressing to the salad and toss well.

Eat chilled.