Nyob Zoo All!
Here’s to a super mouthwatering and easy vermicelli dish you can make anytime of the year. It’s as simple as fresh cooked rice vermicelli with blanched greens and a spicy, sour, sweet, and salty pepper sauce. It’s a super popular noodle dish eaten in Thailand, Laos, and also in the Hmong community. Everyone makes their sauce a little different depending on their preference, so I wanted to share with you ours. I hope you can give it a try! Happy cooking!
Main Ingredients
The sauce: The sauce or dressing is made with lots of peppers, garlic and seasoned with fish sauce, lime juice, salt, msg, sugar, water, and a little bit of chopped cilantro. It’s spicy, salty, sour, sweet, and full of umami. I grew up with my mom making the sauce a little more on the saltier side since she likes to dress the noodles/vegetables instead of making it a brothy type noodle dish. I know a lot of people who likes to add a bit more water to make it a more water base type sauce. You can do however it fits your palette. 
Pound the pepper, garlic, salt, and msg in a mortar and pestle. You can also do this in the food processor or just hand chop it with a knife. 
Put it into a bowl and add in the lime, fish sauce, sugar, water, and cilantro. 
Mix well and the sauce is ready. You can store this in the fridge until you’re ready to use it. It will last well in the the fridge for up to 4 days.
The Greens: My mom likes to add water spinach (morning glory) and cabbage into this noodle dish. It’s nice to have a little crunch and also some extra vitamins 😉
Chop it
And blanch it in hot boiling water real quick.
Drain, rinse in cold water, drain well, and then set aside to serve
The noodles: Rice vermicelli is the noodle commonly used for this dish. You can either use the dried ones and boil it following the directions on the back of the packet or make the fresh rice vermicelli noodles that I showed you here https://chawjcreations.com/fresh-rice-vermicelli/
To serve, add as much noodles as you like along with the blanched greens and a few spoons of sauce just to dress until it’s tasty to your liking. Mix and enjoy while it’s fresh!
Enjoy!
-Cindy Her (C.HerCreations)
Rice Vermicelli w/ Pepper Sauce
Ingredients
For the pepper sauce
- 10-12 whole birds eye chili peppers or a blend of any kind you like (more or less depends on your spice level)
- 4 whole garlic cloves (more or less depends how much garlic flavor you want)
- 1/2 tsp MSG or mushroom seasoning
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 Tbsp sugar
- 1/2 cup hot water
- 1/4 cup lime juice
- 2/3 cup fish sauce
- 2 Tbsp chopped cilantro
For the blanched vegetables
- 8 oz morning glory (rough chopped)
- 1/2 a cabbage (rough chopped)
Noodles
- 1 (35.2oz) dried vermicelli noodles (cooked)
Instructions
For the pepper sauce
- In a mortar & pestle, add in the chili peppers, garlic, msg, and salt. Pound until the peppers/garlic are pounded. Spoon out the smashed peppers/garlic into a bowl and add in the sugar, hot water, lime juice, fish sauce, and chopped cilantro. Stir well and taste to adjust seasoning. Add more of your favorite flavors as needed to fit your taste buds. My mom likes this sauce more on the saltier side since she usually just like to dress the noodles as oppose to creating a brothy sauce for the noodles. If you like this sauce on the brothy side, add more water and adjust the seasonings as you like. Place the sauce in the fridge until ready to use.
For the blanched vegetables
- Fill a pot with water and bring it to a boil. Then add in the chopped vegetables and cook for about 1-2 minute just to blanch it. Drain and rinse in cold water. Drain well and set aside. I like the vegetables to still be slightly crunchy, so cook it however you please.
Noodles
- Follow directions on the back of the packet. Make sure to rinse in cold water, and individually portion it into a colander. OR you can also make fresh vermicelli noodles using my recipe I just posted.
To assemble
- In a bowl, add in as much noodles and blanched vegetables as you like. Ladle as much sauce as you like to coat the noodles and vegetables. Stir well and enjoy while it's fresh!
