This is the salad that I promised to share with you yesterday. It is fast and easy to prepare and I like to serve it as part of an Asian-style meal. The ingredient list is spare, but it produces a salad that is a wonderful meal extender and it can be expanded on whim if you want, or need, a more substantial addition to your menu. Because it is such a simple recipe, I wanted to direct you to similar salads developed by other bloggers, so you can see what can be done with a bit more imagination than I managed to muster here. They are all great recipes from great bloggers and I do hope you'll take some time to look at them. Here's my bare bones version of this very common Thai salad.

Rice Noodle Salad

Ingredients:

4 ounces thin rice noodles

1/4 cup rice vinegar (not seasoned)

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon Asian fish sauce

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 carrot, coarsely shredded

2 scallions, thinly sliced crosswise

1 cup loosely packed mixed fresh cilantro, mint, and/or basil leaves, torn if large

1/4 cup chopped unsalted dry-roasted peanuts

Directions:

1) Soak noodles in hot water 10 minutes, then drain in a large sieve.

2) Cook noodles in a 4-quart pot of boiling water, uncovered, until tender, about 1 minute. Drain in sieve and rinse under cold water until cold. Drain well and pat noodles dry.

3) Whisk together vinegar, sugar, fish sauce, and salt in a large bowl until sugar and salt are dissolved. Add noodles, carrot, scallions, herbs, and peanuts, tossing to combine. Yield: 4 servings.

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