Popping Noodle Salad!!!

Freya named it, Phoebe added the exclamation marks. I think the sweet, tangy dressing would work with many different ingredients, so long as there’s a variety of colours, textures and flavours to layer with the cold noodles.

• 250g egg noodles
• 300g green beans
• A handful of peas and broad beans, podded

• 3 to 4 tablespoons lime juice – around 2 juicy limes, but you may need more
• 2 tablespoons kicap manis – the ingredients are basically sugar and soy sauce, so you could easily substitute them
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons sunflower oil
• 4cm ginger, peeled and grated
• 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil – don’t be tempted to add more, or that’s all you’ll taste

• 1/2 white cabbage, shredded
• 2 peppers, sliced
• 6 spring onions, sliced thinly
• 3 carrots, peeled and then make ribbons with a peeler, or grate
• A handful of mint and coriander, chopped
• 50g salted cashew nuts
• Edible flowers – if you want it even prettier (purple basil and nasturtium in my case)

Have a bowl of cold water ready. Bring a large pan of water to boil and cook the noodles and beans together for four minutes, till tender. Add the peas and broad beans just before the four minutes are up. Drain the pan and then plunge the contents into the bowl of cold water, to arrest the cooking and preserve the bright green colour of the beans and peas.

Mix the dressing ingredients together and adjust to taste. You’re after sourer and saltier than you might think, to offset the bland noodles. Using your hands, mix together the noodles, prepared vegetables, dressing, plus some of the herbs and cashews and pile onto a serving plate. Scatter the remaining herbs, nuts and flowers artfully, as if just wafted in on a summer breeze…