Meatless Fridays: Century Tuna Thai Salad

Mabuhay!

Thank God Blogger has finally gotten its act together! I was a bit stressed that I couldn't log in my blog the whole day yesterday. Anyway, back to business.

Welcome to "Meatless Fridays"... on a Saturday. Haha!

This recipe is a popular one in the Epperson household. It's light, tasty, refreshing and super easy to make (very minimal cooking)! I usually pack this for Aryanna's lunch box meal and it's one of the dishes we take to picnics. The ingredients are low-maintenance; all you need to do is to keep them cool and it would last throughout the day.

I'm going to a BBQ later so I'm thinking of bringing this salad as my potluck dish for everyone to try, plus, it's always polite to bring something special for the hosts.

Century Tuna Thai Salad

 Ingredients:

1 can of Century Tuna in Brine, drained

Clockwise: Cilantro (if you don't like cilantro, replace it with mint leaves), 2-3 scallions or 1/2 red onion, 1 chili (preferably dried), 1 clove garlic, lemon juice and 1/2 tsp of lemon rind from 1 whole lemon, fresh basil, ginger, 1 tsp brown sugar (not in photo)

1 medium pack glass noodles or vermicelli noodles

Clockwise: 1 1/2 tbsp tamari sauce (or any low-sodium soy sauce), 1 tbsp. Chinese rice wine or rice wine vinegar, 2 tbsp fish sauce, 1 tbsp sesame oil

 Easy Peasy:

Step 1: Boil glass noodles.
Warning: The noodles cook fast: from the time the water boils, it takes 4-5 mins to cook. You'll know when it's cooked when the noodles turn translucent.
Step 2: While the noodles are cooking, fry the scallions and garlic chips and set aside for garnish.

Step 3: Once the noodles are cooked, drain and soak in ice cold water.

Step 4: To make the dressing, mix all the wet ingredients, lemon rind, brown sugar, chili, and ginger.
Tip: Since I don't want a tempura sauce texture to my dressing, I just slice a piece of ginger and marinate it for a few minutes and scoop it out before I drizzle the dressing on the salad.

Plating: 

I used my banana leaf ceramic dish to plate it. You can serve it on a regular plate topped with a banana leaf.
Step 5: Cut the bell pepper into fine julienne.
Step 6: Top the glass noodles with Century Tuna
Step 7: Garnish the glass noodles with bell peppers, cilantro, basil, fried scallions and garlic chips

Optional: Garnish with dried chili for presentation

You can drizzle the dressing directly onto your salad or serve it on the side.
Tip: Don't pour the entire dressing on your salad. Add according to your taste. Also always serve the salad cold.

The perfect summer bite! So refreshing!

I can't rave enough about this salad as it is delish! The beauty of it all, it's low maintenance but "high" in flavors!

Bring this to your next potluck party or picnic or as a lunch box meal. It's healthy, filling, and yummy!

Happy weekend everyone!


Shoppingero/shoppingera, what's keeping you cool and refreshed this summer?