A while back we held an Indochine Supperclub. With our focus on French cooking styles, the intersection of French and Vietnamese cooking has long held fascination for us. From Banh mi Baguettes to lemongrass and ginger creme brulees, the cuisines blend well together.
This Vietnamese noodle salad, Goi Chay, is more resoundingly Asian than European. Packed full of crunchy, shredded vegetables and fragrant herbs – regular basil,thai basil mint, coriander, it is light, fresh and clean in taste. You can if you want sub the tofu for chicken (aka Goi Ga). Low fat, gluten and dairy free, it is perfect for gourmands with a healthy intention. It is a good take-to-work lunch. You can prep the night before and allow the salad to soak up the dressing overnight. The vegetables used here are crisp and will not wilt. We adapted a recipe we adding some fish sauce to the dressing (this makes it non vegan so is optional) and using chinese cabbage, and our own choice of herbs.
If you want to stir fry Tofu, you can either use it as it comes, or first crisp it up by frying it in oil. One tip we discovered in our research is that to remove any aftertaste from a packet of tofu, you can first take the block and place it in a pan of boiling water for a couple of minutes to refresh it. You do need to drain the tofu to firm it up – lots of kitchen towel and a weighted plate will help remove the excess water.
I do prefer the texture of the fried tofu over a plain block. It helps to keep the oil content down if you fry the block whole or in largeish blocks then slice it. Once the tofu is prepped, it is a simple vegetable-shredding job, soak the rice noodles and mix it together with the dressing
I am adding this to Karen at Lavender and Lovage’s – for obvious herbacious reasons!
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