Cold Pork Rice Noodles With Cucumber and Peanuts

By Sarah Copeland

Updated July 18, 2019

  • Romulo Yanes for The New York Times. Food styling: Vivian Lui.
Media 1 of 1
Total Time
25 minutes
Rating
5(1,493)
Comments
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Sometimes you want dinner to be cold. For those evenings, there's this make-ahead pork and rice noodle dish, offering a robust infusion of zing from garlic, fish sauce and tons of fresh herbs plus plenty of flexibility. Add more peanuts and basil, or go heavy on the mint and lime. Use pork tonight, and ground turkey or chicken the next time; it’s your choice. This basic formula is easily adapted, and the components pack up easily for a work lunch or another night’s dinner. To make this vegetarian, substitute semi-firm tofu, cut into ½-inch cubes, for the pork, and substitute a few tablespoons of soy sauce for the fish sauce.

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings

  • 3 tablespoons peanut, canola or grapeseed oil

  • 6 garlic cloves, pressed or minced

  • 1 pound ground pork

  • ½ teaspoon black pepper

  • 6 tablespoons fish sauce

  • 4 tablespoons brown sugar

  • 1 to 2 teaspoons sriracha or chile garlic sauce, plus more for serving

  • Kosher salt

  • 1 (8.8-ounce) package rice vermicelli

  • 4 small Persian or hothouse cucumbers, thinly sliced (about 4 ounces)

  • 1 small bunch mint, leaves picked (about 1 cup)

  • 1 small bunch Thai basil or regular basil, leaves picked (about 1 cup)

  • ½ cup roasted peanuts, roughly chopped

  • 2 limes, cut in wedges, for serving

Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)

72 grams carbs; 82 milligrams cholesterol; 798 calories; 17 grams monosaturated fat; 12 grams polyunsaturated fat; 11 grams saturated fat; 44 grams fat; 5 grams fiber; 2312 milligrams sodium; 31 grams protein; 12 grams sugar

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Heat the oil in a large skillet or wok over medium heat. Add the garlic, pork and black pepper and stir to brown evenly, 2 to 3 minutes. Add fish sauce, sugar and sriracha, and continue cooking until pork is just cooked through and evenly coated with sauce, 2 to 3 minutes more. Set aside.

  2. Step 2

    Bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil. Add the rice noodles and cook until tender, 2 to 4 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water.

  3. Step 3

    Drain the sauce off the pork into a bowl, and toss it with the noodles to coat. Divide the dressed noodles across four bowls and top with pork, cucumber, herbs and peanuts (or toss all together and transfer to a bowl). Drizzle with sriracha to taste and serve with lime for squeezing.

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Ratings

5 out of 5
1,493 user ratings
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Comments

Anna

I let the cucumbers soak in vinegar while I made it. Gave it a nice kick and no need to worry about soggy fresh cucumbers the next days cause they’re already a bit pickled!

Matt

Delicious! Reduced fish sauce to 4T + 1T soy sauce and flavors were spot on to our tastes

Janet

Used tempeh in place of the pork. Is a great meatless alternative.

Mo

I don’t understand why so many people reduced the fish sauce. It wasn’t too salty or fishy, and I think the ratio against the amount of noodles and pork was spot on. I squeezed two lime halves on (just) mine, and I did reduce the brown sugar to 2 TBs.

Wendy Ranck-Buhr

Delicious! Perfect for summer dinner.

Janice56

I used chicken, which has a lot less fat than pork, so I made a little more sauce to make up for that but I still found it a little dry. Did anyone else have an issue like this that they successfully fixed?

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