Cold Pork Rice Noodles With Cucumber and Peanuts

By Sarah Copeland

Cold Pork Rice Noodles With Cucumber and Peanuts
Romulo Yanes for The New York Times. Food styling: Vivian Lui.
Total Time
25 minutes
Rating
5(1,361)
Comments
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Sometimes you want dinner to be cold. For those evenings, there's this make-ahead pork and rice noodle dish, offering a robust infusion of zing from garlic, fish sauce and tons of fresh herbs plus plenty of flexibility. Add more peanuts and basil, or go heavy on the mint and lime. Use pork tonight, and ground turkey or chicken the next time; it’s your choice. This basic formula is easily adapted, and the components pack up easily for a work lunch or another night’s dinner. To make this vegetarian, substitute semi-firm tofu, cut into ½-inch cubes, for the pork, and substitute a few tablespoons of soy sauce for the fish sauce.

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings
  • 3tablespoons peanut, canola or grapeseed oil
  • 6garlic cloves, pressed or minced
  • 1pound ground pork
  • ½teaspoon black pepper
  • 6tablespoons fish sauce
  • 4tablespoons brown sugar
  • 1 to 2teaspoons sriracha or chile garlic sauce, plus more for serving
  • Kosher salt
  • 1(8.8-ounce) package rice vermicelli
  • 4small Persian or hothouse cucumbers, thinly sliced (about 4 ounces)
  • 1small bunch mint, leaves picked (about 1 cup)
  • 1small bunch Thai basil or regular basil, leaves picked (about 1 cup)
  • ½cup roasted peanuts, roughly chopped
  • 2limes, cut in wedges, for serving
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)

798 calories; 44 grams fat; 11 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 17 grams monounsaturated fat; 12 grams polyunsaturated fat; 71 grams carbohydrates; 5 grams dietary fiber; 12 grams sugars; 31 grams protein; 2312 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Heat the oil in a large skillet or wok over medium heat. Add the garlic, pork and black pepper and stir to brown evenly, 2 to 3 minutes. Add fish sauce, sugar and sriracha, and continue cooking until pork is just cooked through and evenly coated with sauce, 2 to 3 minutes more. Set aside.

  2. Step 2

    Bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil. Add the rice noodles and cook until tender, 2 to 4 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water.

  3. Step 3

    Drain the sauce off the pork into a bowl, and toss it with the noodles to coat. Divide the dressed noodles across four bowls and top with pork, cucumber, herbs and peanuts (or toss all together and transfer to a bowl). Drizzle with sriracha to taste and serve with lime for squeezing.

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Ratings

5 out of 5
1,361 user ratings
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Comments

Anna

I let the cucumbers soak in vinegar while I made it. Gave it a nice kick and no need to worry about soggy fresh cucumbers the next days cause they’re already a bit pickled!

Matt

Delicious! Reduced fish sauce to 4T + 1T soy sauce and flavors were spot on to our tastes

Janet

Used tempeh in place of the pork. Is a great meatless alternative.

Harper

This is going in the rotation, it works really well. I did make some adjustments to suit my preferences and what was in my fridge, but honestly I’m sure it would also work as written. My adjustments - reduced fish sauce, used chili crisp oil instead of sriracha, used crumbled extra firm tofu instead of pork, used a ton of peanuts (kind of on accident since I didn’t measure them), added water to the sauce, squeezed one whole lime on the finished salad before dishing into bowls, added scallion along with the basil and mint.

M

I’ve made this over and over for years. At this point I have a few highly recommended and very thoroughly tested tweaks: I add a large supermarket carton of mushrooms and nuts (walnut or cashews or similar) when browning the meat, both diced finely. For cholesterol reasons I usually use something leaner like turkey, but I sub in chunky peanut butter for the peanuts to add back some of the silkiness that comes from fat. I use PB that’s just peanuts, without stabilizers, and ideally unsalted since fish sauce is very salty. I also halve the sugar. I prefer it served warm, to maintain that glossy feel of the sauce. These swaps I feel make it more in line with my nutrition goals while not sacrificing the great taste of the original! (And unpopular opinion - pickling the cucumbers, as widely suggested in the comments, does not improve this dish. The cucumbers add freshness and are best fresh.)

FoxPeek_Bay

Enjoyed this - will do again - even the "choosey" husband liked. Good use for extra summer cukes. We took the Notes to reduce the fish sauce & b.sugar (4 T & 2 T respectively) and also let the cukes soak in vinegar w/dash of sesame per suggestion. Not a mint fan so skipped - everything else as written. Quick, simple, tasty summer worknight dish!

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