Yum Woon Sen, also known as bean thread noodles salad, is a popular dish both within and outside of Thailand. This dish is delicious because of the combination of ingredients and seasonings. I adore how the bland noodles soak up the hot, sour, spicy sauce while the crunchiness of the peanuts gives the salad a nutty crunch. The flavour and salinity of the dried shrimp hit you immediately. Freshness is added with Chinese celery and cilantro. I keep switching back and forth, doing a little of this and a little of that.
Glass noodles, or woon sen in Thai, are normally served in single-serving bundles and are produced from mung bean starch. Glass noodles may also be referred to as cellophane noodles, mung bean noodles, mung bean threads, bean vermicelli, bean threads, green bean threads, or broad bean threads, depending on the brand. Look for a Thai brand that only lists mung bean starch as an ingredient for this recipe. The noodles are simple to make: after briefly rehydrating them in lukewarm water to make them pliable, you simply boil the noodles until they expand and turn translucent.
The shrimp and pork are poached to ensure that the proteins are delicately cooked, maintaining their tenderness and giving them a very pure flavour profile. To speed up the process and enhance flavour, I prefer to cook the noodles in the same water as the shrimp and ground pork. After everything has finished cooking, I combine the three with the prepared dressing, allowing the warm noodles to absorb it while also reducing its raw allium bite. Serve it as a weekday dinner or as a part of a more elaborate Thai buffet. In either case, yum woon sen is a crowd-pleaser.
Ingredients
For the Dressing:
- 3 cilantro roots, cleaned
- 2 fresh red Thai chilies , stemmed
- 1 small-size garlic clove, peeled
- Salt
- 1 tablespoon plus 1 ½ teaspoons sugar
- ¼ cup fresh lime juice from 2 to 3 limes
- 1/4 cup fish sauce
For the Salad:
- 80g Thai mung bean glass noodles
- 8 large shrimp (140g) peeled and deveined
- 100g ground pork
- 3 fresh red Thai chilies , stemmed and thinly sliced into rounds
- 1 plum tomato, cored, seeded, and cut lengthwise into 1/4 inch-wide strips
- 1 medium-size shallot, thinly sliced
- 2 tablespoons roasted unsalted peanuts, roughly chopped
- 3 stems fresh cilantro including tender stems, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 5 stems Chinese celery including tender stems, cut into 1-inch pieces, or 1 small celery rib, thinly sliced
Directions
- For the Dressing: Combine cilantro roots, chilies , garlic, and a pinch of salt in a granite mortar and pestle, and mash into a smooth paste over the course of two minutes. Add sugar and work pestle in a circular motion against mortar for 1 minute, or until sugar is completely dissolved. Stir in the lime juice and fish sauce until well combined. Place the dressing in a big bowl and reserve.
- For the Salad: Pour room temperature water over the glass noodles in a medium bowl. Noodles should soak for around 10 minutes or until they become flexible. Drain, then set aside.
- In the meantime, in a small saucepan, heat 1 cup (240 ml) of lightly salted water to a boil. Add the shrimp, stir to make sure they are all covered, and then turn off the heat. Allow shrimp to poach, undisturbed, for approximately a minute, or until they change colour and are just cooked through. Shrimp should be transferred right away to a bowl with the dressing using a slotted spoon, leaving the poaching liquid in the pan.
- Add pork and bring the water to a boil once more over high heat. Cook for approximately a minute, stirring occasionally and breaking up any large meat clumps. Transfer right away to the bowl containing the dressing using a slotted spoon.
- Bring the water back to a boil over high heat, add the glass noodles, and add more water as needed to completely cover the noodles. For about 2 minutes, cook the noodles while stirring continuously until they expand and turn translucent. Drain noodles in a fine-mesh strainer, shaking the strainer to remove any extra moisture, and then add them to a bowl with the dressing.
- Toss the noodles, shrimp, and pork with the dressing until everything is thoroughly coated. Sliced chiles, tomato, shallot, and half of the peanuts should be added at this point. Continue tossing until everything is well combined and the noodles have absorbed the majority of the dressing. Mix in the cilantro and Chinese celery after adding them. Sprinkle with remaining peanuts and serve after transferring to a large serving platter or dividing among individual serving dishes.