Yum woon sen
Glass noodles have no flavour of their own — they are pure starch, and their only job is to carry the dressing. So this salad is tossed while the noodles are still warm: they absorb the dressing then, instead of merely being coated by it. Cold glass noodles are slippery and the dressing tends to slide off to the bottom of the bowl.
Your own work in that: 0 min.
- Noodles 10 min
- Prawns and pork 8 min
- Dressing 5 min
- Tossing 10 min
Step by step
0 / 6 doneSoak the noodles in hot water, do not boil
Cover the glass noodles with hot water from the kettle for 8 minutes, until clear and springy. Do not boil them in a pan — hot water is enough, and overcooked noodles lose their spring and clump together.
Ingredients: 150 g glass noodles
From white to translucent — the noodles are ready.Cut the noodles with scissors
Drain and cut the noodles into shorter lengths with scissors. The strands are very long, and uncut they are hard to toss with anything or lift on a fork.
Ingredients: 150 g glass noodles
Poach the pork and prawns in water
Pour the water into a pan, add the mince and cook 6 minutes, breaking it up with a spatula, until no pink remains. Add the prawns for 2 minutes, until curled into a C. Do not brown anything — in Thai salads the meat stays pale and tender, and the flavour comes from the dressing and herbs.
Ingredients: 250 g prawns · 200 g minced pork · 60 ml water
Mix the dressing and check four tastes
Crush the garlic with the chillies, add the lime juice, fish sauce and sugar and stir until dissolved. Taste: it should be clearly sour, salty, lightly sweet and hot. If one is missing, add it — this is not a recipe but a balance.
Ingredients: 3 pcs limes · 3 tbsp fish sauce · 1 tbsp sugar · 3 pcs chillies · 2 cloves garlic
Four tastes: sour, salt, sweet, heat.Toss everything with the warm noodles
Put the warm noodles, warm pork and prawns into a large bowl, add the dressing and toss with tongs for half a minute. Warm noodles take up the dressing far better than cold ones.
Ingredients: 2 pcs celery sticks · 1 pcs red onion · 200 g cherry tomatoes · 3 pcs spring onions · 1 bunch coriander · 60 g peanuts
Warm noodles absorb the dressing, cold ones just carry it.Add vegetables and herbs last
Fold in the celery, onion, tomatoes, spring onion and coriander only now, once the mixture has cooled a little. Added earlier they wilt in the heat. Scatter the peanuts just before serving and taste again — the noodles have absorbed the dressing and the salad usually wants more lime.
Ingredients: 2 pcs celery sticks · 1 pcs red onion · 200 g cherry tomatoes · 3 pcs spring onions · 1 bunch coriander · 60 g peanuts
Before you start
Eat it at room temperature
Yum woon sen is neither a warm nor a cold salad. Straight from the fridge the noodles firm up and the flavours are muted; hot, the herbs wilt. It is made and eaten within the hour.
Adjusting heat and acidity
Three chillies is the Thai version, which is very hot. Start with one and build. Do not economise on the acid though: without assertive lime the salad falls flat, and glass noodles soak up dressing quickly.
Vegetarian version
Crumbled tofu and mushrooms simmered with a splash of water in place of prawns and pork. Swap the fish sauce for soy with a teaspoon of miso. Nothing else changes — this salad's structure does not depend on the meat.
