This is essentially a room temperature (Ambient) Noodle dish with fried sea monsters over the top. Sounds dreadful? Not it was as far from dreadful as you can get! We used Atlantic Shrimps (3 for 1 offer, you know!) Which are similar to King Prawns but have a sweeter underlying taste.
Ingredients for the Shrimp marinade:-
Atlantic Prawns
1 Tsp of Fish Sauce
A few good grinds of Black Pepper
a Pinch of Turmeric
Ingredients for the Noodle Salad:-
Rice Vermicelli
3 Lettuce leaves, thinly cut
½ a Cucumber, thinly sliced
1/ a bag of Bean Sprouts
1 Carrot, finely sliced
Coriander, finely chopped
Mint leaves, roughly chopped
1 Tsp of dried Basil
3 Tbsp of Peanuts, roughly chopped
Ingredients for the Nuoc Cham (Dipping Sauce):-
¼ cup of Fish Sauce
½ Tsp of Garlic Powder
½ a cup of Warm Water
A dish of Chilli Sauce
50g of Sugar
Juice of a Lime
Method:-
(1) Mix the marinade ingredients and pop the Shrimps in it and place in the fridge.
(2) Cook the Rice Vermicelli according to the instructions on the pack.
(3) Rinse the Noodles with cold water, drain and set aside.
(4) Prepare the vegetables.
(5) For the dipping sauce add the Sugar to warm water to dissolve and then stir in the additional ingredients.
(6) Fry the Shrimps in their marinade until cooked and pink.
(7) Place the Lettuce, Coriander, Mint and Basil in your serving bowls.
(8) Top with the Noodles, Carrots, Cucumber, Bean Sprouts.
(9) Add the fried Shrimps.
(10) Pour over the dipping sauce and garnish with the chopped Peanuts.
We served ours with a soft centred Tokneneng each (Recipe here - http://www.eatwellonuc.org.uk/index.php/recipes/499-tokneneng) This flavour combination had a real wow factor!
Lamb is expensive, we all know that. But Pork Shoulder is inexpensive and because it has been boned out you can remove the strings and there is a great place to add herbs. It's easy to roll the joint back up and roast. This was one of our experiments that really – really worked!
Ingredients:-
400g joint of Pork Shoulder (We paid £3.29 and have plenty for 2 meals for the three of us Including Buster the Dog!)
Rosemary chopped
Basil chopped
Garlic butter with Parsley
Oil, Salt & Pepper ( With the remaining herb mix to rub on the outside )
Method:-
(1) Heat the oven to 220c.
(2) Take the strings off the meat and open out.
(3) Pack the inside with most of the ingredients above.
(4) Roll the joint up again and place on a roasting tray.
(5) Rub the remaining herb mix on the outside.
(6) Roast at 220c for 20 minutes.
(7) Reduce the heat to 160c and cook for a further hour, longer depending on the size of your joint.
We served ours with Yorkshire Puddings and vegetables, but that really is up to you!