A cool and refreshing summer salad made with bean thread noodles, crisp green beans, mouth tingly mint and cilantro all dressed with a very flavorful dressing of lime and fish sauce.  This salad is easy to make and you will have dinner on the table in under 30 minutes.

Priya picked summer salads for the HHDD #27 kickoff.  I love summer salads and Donna Hay has an outstanding collection of them. In order to narrow the choice down Priya found a wonderful lime and noodle salad for HHDD # 27.  After reading the recipe, I could not wait to try it as there were so many ingredients that I love in salads:  mint, cilantro, chilies and nuts.  Now this event and the fact it is all about salads excited me, but I was even more excited when Laudalino (aka .. Lenny) told me he wanted to make the salad!

Laudalino is tossing around the idea of learning to cook.  I have told him time and time again, that I thought Donna Hay recipes would be a great place to begin.  He was eager, hungry and took this recipe by the horns and created a fantastic dinner for us.  The salad has loads of texture, from silky bean thread noodles to spicy chilies.  He did add a bit of red pepper to give it a little more color.  The sweetness of the red pepper went very well with the crisp green beans and the cool cucumbers took the fire away from the spicy chilies.  The salad came together with a sweet but tart dressing made of limes and fish sauce, in which he grated some lime zest as well as some fresh chili, this gave it a nice spicy bite.  This salad is prefect for a hot summer evening as it is very light and refreshing.

Lenny, thanks for making a fantastic dinner!!!  Priya, thank you for being a great hostess for HHDD #27!

Recipe: Lime and Mint Noodle Salad

*adapted from Donna Hay
serves 8

250g bean thread noodles
500g green beans, trimmed and halved
1 Lebanese cucumbers, sliced
¾ cup mint leaves, chopped
¼ cup coriander (cilantro) leaves, chopped
¼ cup roasted unsalted peanuts
1 1/2 large red chillies, seeds removed and finely chopped
1/4 red pepper, cut in thin strips

Dressing

⅓ cup (80ml) lime juice
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1½ tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 red chili, grated

Place noodles in a bowl, cover with boiling water and allow to stand for 5-6 minutes or until soft.   Cook the beans in boiling water for 2 minutes or until bright green. Drain, cool under cold water and drain again. Combine with the noodles, cucumber, mint, coriander, peanuts and chili.  To make the dressing, combine the lime juice, fish sauce and sugar and pour over the salad.   Serve.  Eat.