Sashimi Tuna Vermicelli Noodle Salad with Lime and Ginger Dressing
Serves: 2
Time: approx 20 mins
Possibly one of my favourite salads to eat at the moment, I know it’s cold and I have been really leaning towards comfort foods at the moment. But I can’t do heavy dinners consistently for too long and it’s nice to break them up with something that feels and looks as fresh as it tastes. I find the vermicelli noodle salad can work with pretty much any meat, but my core ingredients are generally the same I like lots of herbs and some crunchy vegetables for texture and then a lime and ginger dressing. I do try to mix the dressings up every now and then but the lime and ginger with fish sauce is by far my fav and its super easy to make so it generally wins over alternatives. Tonight I am doing this salad with sashimi tuna, you could lightly sear it if you wanted but the quality and freshness of the piece of tuna I had was too good to spoil so I have kept it raw. Because I went with sashimi I have added a splash of soy to the dressing, a slight fusion that works perfectly.
Leftovers
Sashimi Tuna
The star of the show is the tuna so you want to make sure you go with sashini grade. If you are unsure just ask at your local fish shop, if they only have steaks they might have sashimi quality out the back that they will cut fresh for you. Ask for the whole piece if you are confident with a knife and know how to cut sashimi. Or if you want them to slice for you tell them you would like it cut really thin.
Sashimi tuna is generally around $99.90 a kilo so I very rarely buy enough for leftovers. But you can very easily double the rest of the salad ingredients and just run with a simple but tasty veggie salad.
What you'll need
200g Sashimi Tuna
1 medium sized piece of ginger about the length of your thumb
1 clove of garlic
1 x 200g packet vermicelli noodles
1 carrot
1/2 red onion
1 lime
1/4 bunch of mint
1/4 bunch of coriander
3 baby cucumbers
1 lime
2 red birdseye chillies
From the pantry
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons of fish sauce
2 teaspoons of sesame seeds
1/2 teaspoon of soy sauce
salt and pepper
Optional Extras For Lunch
200g vermicelli noodles
1 carrot
1/2 red onion
1/4 bunch of coriander
1/4 bunch of mint
3 baby cucumbers
1 lime
Feeding Four
To make this into a dinner for four you need to double everything, I have put all the xtra ingredients into the feeding four xtra shopping list, except for the cucumbers you will already have xtra in your pack.
Prep and Cook
Soak Noodles
Boil a jug of water and empty the noodles into a large bowl. Completely cover the noodles with boiling water.
Leave to soften.
Once they are cool and soft, drain off the excess water and chop the noodles down a bit with kitchen scissors so they are more manageable to eat.
Marinate Tuna
The tuna is going to get soaked in the dressing for a bit, so…
Squeeze the lime juice into a small jar. Peel and finely grate the ginger and garlic and add to the lime juice along with the fish sauce, soy sauce and olive oil.
Shake Well.
Make sure your knife is really sharp! I am using a fish filleting knife which is very thin if you only have a large kitchen knife that is fine but it is essential that before you cut you sharpen it on either a steel, stone or any other knife sharpening device you own. I do this even when I know my knife is sharp.
When slicing through the tuna keep your slices really nice and thin and make sure you do each slice in one continuous motion. No sawing actions, please!
Once you have sliced all the tuna place into a small bowl and cover lightly with 1/4 of the dressing.
Prep Salad
Peel and finely slice carrot and onion.
Wash and rip up the mint leaves and coriander.
Slice cucumber into small rounds.
Lightly toast sesame seeds.
Plate it Pretty
I find this dish looks nicer when you don’t toss all the ingredients together. But once you are ready to eat and if you are making this one for guests then just instruct to mix it all up really well so that the flavours from the dressing mixes through.
Fill two-thirds of your bowl with vermicelli noodles, keeping a small section around the edge of one side of the bowl empty.
Scatter the sliced cucumber along the empty section.
Mix the carrot, red onion, mint and coriander all together and pile up on top of the noodles.
Fan the tuna out across the top of the salad.
Mix the toasted sesame seeds into your dressing and spoon generously over the top.
Sprinkle with sea salt flakes and cracked pepper.
Serve with the remaining dressing on the side and some fresh sliced chilli.
Enjoy!
Lunch tomorrow
Keep it super simple and just double all the salad ingredients for a super simple but really tasty veg salad or spice it up with some sirena tuna in chilli oil.