Thai Mung Bean Noodle Salad (Yum Woon Sen)

Salad can be a perfect choice for a light meal as the summer is approaching.

Thai mung bean noodle salad, called yum woon sen (ยำวุ้นเส้น), is one of my favorite salads. The balanced flavor of sauce (sourness, sweetness, hot, and saltiness), the texture of mung bean noodle, and the sharp flavor of vegetables... all of these mingle together with lightly poached shrimp and pork, and create a very delicious, light and refreshing salad.

You can definitely make your own variation. If you think raw scallions are too sharp for your taste, you can substitute it with cucumber or celery. And, please feel free to add any other seafood or replace the ground pork with ground turkey or chicken.

Hope you enjoy this flavorful noodle salad as much as I do!

Thai Mung Bean Noodle Salad (Yum Woon Sen, ยำวุ้นเส้น)

(Yield: 4 servings / Cooking time: 25 minutes)

Ingredients:
+ 100g thin mung bean noodle
+ 8-12 shrimps, deveined and shelled
+ 150g ground pork
+ 2 stalks of scallion
+ a small bunch of cilantro
+ 2 limes
+ 1 tsp sugar (ideally, palm sugar, but regular granulated sugar is okay)
+ 1 small shallot
+ 2 cloves of garlic
+ 1/2 tsp chili flakes
+ 2 Tbsp roasted peanuts
+ 1 Tbsp fish sauce
+ 10-15 cherry tomatoes
+ (optional) a few leaves of romaine lettuce




Procedures:
1. First, boil a pot of water for mung bean noodle. Pour the boiling water over mung bean noodle in a bowl and tightly wrap with plastic wrap. Let the noodle soak in the hot water for 20 minutes.



2. Meanwhile, poach shrimps and ground pork, and prepare the vegetables.

- Shrimps & ground pork: crush one clove of garlic, and peel the rind from one lime. Juice two limes. Reserve 1 Tbsp lime juice for sauce, and add the rest in a pot of water with the crushed garlic clove and lime rinds. Season the water lightly with salt and pepper. Bring the water to a boil. Add shrimps and ground pork together. Poach for 1.5-2 minutes, just untill the shrimps and pork are cooked. Drain the water and discard garlic and lime rinds.



- Scallions: clean and cut into about 2" length.
- Cilantro: clean and pick the leaves.
- Shallot: peel and thinly slice.


- Cherry tomatoes: half or quarter as needed.
- Romaine lettuce: chop to bite size.


3. Make the sauce: Mince one clove of garlic very finely, and mix with sugar, chili flakes, 1 Tbsp fish sauce and 1 Tbsp lime juice. Slice one Thai chili into the sauce, if you want a more spicy sauce.


4. After soaking in hot water for 20 minutes, the mung bean noodle should be very soft. Rinse lightly in cold water, and drain it. Cut the noodle with kitchen shears a few times so the noodle is not too long.

5. Mix the noodle with the sauce from #3, and add shrimps, ground pork and vegetables. Top the noodle salad with crushed roasted peanuts.


Enjoy~