I went to my favorite kind of out of the way grocery store and ended up with kohlrabi. Now, I wasn't necessarily intending to make vermicelli and kohlrabi salad with it, but I am certainly not disappointed with the outcome!
I have become obsessed with vermicelli lately. The variety that I'm using is an incredibly fine brown rice noodle often used in Asian cuisines. I believe that it originated in China, but has made its way in several varieties throughout the globe, including Italy with more pasta-like dishes.
As with anything that i'm trying off hand and don't have that much experience with, I didn't know exactly what I was going to make with it. But I was certainly determined to try! I actually originally thought that I might make some kind of stir fry. But boiling noodles and then frying them seemed entiry unnecessary when I could just make a no-fry stir fry? Which ended up really just being a kind of salad, I suppose. So, now we have my new favorite thing: vermicelli salad. With kohlrabi. Because why not??
If you don't have kohlrabi, you can easily swap out cucumber, radish, or zucchini. The kohlrabi gives a nice crunch that I'm quite fond of, though.
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Variations of Vermicelli Salad
I have made plenty of variations of this salad over the last couple of weeks. It's the perfect recipe to mix and match your favorite produce, what's in season at the time, or simply whatever you have on hand. The same basic principle applies! Just chop all of the produce to roughly the same size and mix together. I'm also fond of adding lightly fried tofu or salmon.
This vermicelli and kohlrabi salad combines lightly fried tofu, peanuts, carrots, bell peppers, jalapeños, ginger, garlic, tahini, tamari, rice vinegar, and avocado with just a dash of salt and pepper. I came across some whole wheat vermicelli the other day. And now it's my new favorite dish! Feel free to mix and match whatever produce that you have on hand or to match your personal taste. It's a great meal to make your own.
Add about 4 inches of water to a large pot and bring to a boil over high heat.
Cook vermicelli according to the manufacturer's instructions.Vermicelli cooks very quickly. I tend to add the vermicelli and then immediately remove it from heat. Then, go on to prepare the produce. Merely sitting in the once boiling water is sufficient enough soften it enough to eat without overcooking.
Fry Tofu
While the pot is boiling for the vermicelli, drain the water out of the tofu and cut into cubes.
Wrap in paper towels to absorb the moisture.It's important to absorb as much water out of the tofu as you can. Oil is less dense than water, so the molecules repel one another. With cold ingredients, this causes separation. When you're frying at high temperatures, though, this can cause boiling hot oil to spray back at you.
Meanwhile, preheat oil in a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat.
When the skillet has preheated and the majority of the water has absorbed into the paper towels, carefully add the tofu to the skillet. Fry until golden brown. This should take about 2-4 minutes. Rotate until all sides are evenly fried.
Remove from heat and wrap again in paper towels to absorb the excess oil.
Assemble Salad
Mince and chop all of the produce and add to a large bowl.
It can help to mix the tamari, rice vinegar, and tahini together in a separate bowl and then mix in. Although this isn't explicitly necessary as long as the tahini doesn't clump together.
I have also started adding the chopped avocado in afterwards, to keep it from breaking down too much while mixing in the other ingredients. This isn't entirely necessary, though.
Serve immediately or chill in the refrigerator for about an hour. I'm quite fond of this dish at room temperature or mixed in with salmon or scrambled eggs. It keeps incredibly well in the refrigerator, though. There's enough sodium and acidity in the mix to last for about a week without the produce browning. The liquid will start to separate and just need stirring before serving again.
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