Vietnamese Noodles Recipe

The Vietnamese noodles are a filling meal, is vegan, and a meal to cherish. It is full of different flavors, the glassy noodles and the tofu with caramel flavor, and the greens that add crunch to the bowl of noodles. It is full of different colors in a bowl full of flavors. The tofu is soft but crunchy on the outside and has a tint of caramel to its taste. The Vietnamese sauce enhances the flavors and makes the meal tastier. It keeps you full for a longer time. You can serve the noodles as a part of a soup or even as a separate dish. This noodles recipe is for the ones who love Vegan food.

 

Ingredients

The ingredients for the recipe are into three parts. Each part is listed separately for the convenience and ease of differentiation among the additives for each element.

 

Tofu and its Marinating

The tofu that goes into the recipe is marinated and soaked in caramel flavor before adding to the noodle’s recipe.

 

• Firm Tofu: 500 grams
• Garlic: 2 Cloves, Minced
• Lime Juice: 2 Tablespoons
• Soy sauce: 1 Tablespoon
• Brown sugar: 2 Tablespoon
• Vegetable oil: 1 Tablespoon
• Lemon Grass: 1 Stalk, Chopped

Nuoc Cham ingredients

Nuoc cham is the sweet, spicy, and savory sauce from Vietnam. 

It is a part of Vietnamese noodles.

 

• Soy sauce: 3 tablespoons
• Rice Vinegar: 1/4th cup
• White sugar: 2 tablespoons
• Water: 1/2 a cup
• Garlic: 2 Cloves, finely chopped
• Red Birdseye chili: 1 in number
• Lime Juice: 3 tablespoons

The Ingredients for the noodles bowl:

• Rice stick noodles: 200 grams (Medium size)
• Carrots: 2, sliced as thin Julienne
• Cucumber: 1, sliced as thin Julienne
• Sprouts: 2 cups, bean
• Mint leaves: Handful of mint leaves
• Cilantro: Handful
• Chili: Sliced

 

 

Preparation and Time

The time goes into the preparation of noodles. All it takes is 5 minutes to cook the delicious bowl.

 

Preparation Time: 20 Minutes

Cooking Time: 5 Minutes

Total Time: 25 Minutes

Servings: 4

 

How to make the noodles?

1. The first step is to marinate tofu. It is one of the ingredients of the noodle bowl and set it aside. Take a small or a medium-size bowl and add sliced tofu to the bowl. 
2. Add the other ingredients, the garlic, lime juice, soy sauce, brown sugar, oil, and lemongrass. Mix all the ingredients and keep the bowl aside for some time. It helps in the absorption of all the flavors into tofu.
3. After keeping aside the tofu for marinating, we will start making the Nuoc Cham sauce for the Vietnamese noodles. Take another small bowl and add the soy sauce, vinegar, water, garlic, white sugar, chili, and lime juice. Dissolve all the sugar well until it combines with the ingredients and there are no grains left. You can adjust or balance the taste of the sauce as per your liking. You can add less or more of an ingredient as you like.
4. Now, take water in a pan to boil the rice noodles. Add the noodles into the pan. Add water to the pan to a level to submerge the noodles. Keep the noodles in hot water for some 8 minutes or until they are soft yet firm enough when touched. Once boiled to the required consistency/level, remove them from the hot water and run below the cold water. You can take another bowl filled with cold water and dip noodles to it.
5. Take out the noodles from cold water after rinsing. The noodles are now ready. The next step is caramelizing the marinated tofu.
6. You can use a BBQ to caramelize the tofu, or you can use a stove as a substitute for BBQ to cook the tofu. Cook the tofu, till it turns crisp on the outside yet, remains firm from inside.
7. To serve the Vietnamese noodles, take a bowl, and toss all the ingredients together into it. Add a portion of noodles with the chopped and sliced vegetables, the Julienne of cucumber and carrot; add tofu on the top of these. In the last, drizzle a bit of sauce to add the flavors.

 

Additional Points for the recipe:

• If you want, or do not like the taste of Rice noodles, you can substitute these for vermicelli noodles.
• If you are using vermicelli noodles, you do not need to boil them. You can soak them for a while and use them in the recipe.
• Slice the tofu in a 0.5 cm slice.
• Use only a white portion of the lemongrass.
• You can omit sliced chili that is to be used for garnishing.
• You can use more or less of the flavors or adjust the taste of sauce suiting your requirements.