Cold Pork Rice Noodles With Cucumber and Peanuts

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(1,188)
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
1,188 user ratings
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Comments

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!

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

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

Made recipe as written today with summer garden herbs and cucumbers for my gluten-free birthday meal. Really big hit with everybody. Shopping for ingredients took a little time, but the cooking was quick. Will probably try it with different options for protein and make many times in the future.

Per other cooks, I let the cucumber marinate in rice vinegar, sesame oil, & chili flakes while I prepared the rest. Per others, I cut the fish sauce (2T for half recipe) and the sugar (1T for half recipe). Also added some raw julienned carrots & red peppers at the end. Used Thai basil and cilantro from the garden, no mint. I didn't quite have enough sauce so bumped it up with some pasta water & a little stock. It was absolutely delicious and we can't wait to have it again.

Used wheat noodles…it was what we had. Used ground chic. It was excellent. Very flexible recipe. Added scallions and cilantro. We’ll do this again, soon!

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