Chicken Rice Noodle Salad

As my mum would say, "chop, chop, chop!" But lots of chopping = lots of flavour! Take your time, all the ingredients are worth it. Also, I would have added a cup of fresh chopped mint, but the 4 supermarkets I went to were sold out!! Also, if you can tolerate garlic, add a couple of crushed cloves to the dressing for extra noms.

Serves 4-6, depending on how hungry you are!

1 BBQ chicken, shredded*

200g rice noodles

1 red capsicum**, sliced julienne

½ large cucumber, sliced julienne

1 carrot, sliced julienne

4 spring onions**, green parts only, finely sliced

Large handful bean sprouts

1 cup coriander leaves, roughly chopped**

1 cup basil leaves, roughly chopped

½ cup peanuts, roughly chopped

Dressing

1 lemon, zested and juiced

1 lime, zested and juiced

½ orange, zested and juiced

3 Tbsp garlic oil

3 Tbsp fish sauce

1 Tbsp sesame oil

100ml rice vinegar

1cm fresh ginger, ground

¼ tsp white pepper

1 lemongrass stalk, chopped as finely as possible

1 red or green chilli, seeds and membranes removed, finely diced

Prepare all your ingredients. For the dressing, combine everything in a jug, then stir, taste and adjust as desired.

Boil a full kettle of water. Place rice noodles in a large pot, then pour boiled water over the top, ensuring all the noodles are immersed. Cover and let sit for about 5 minutes or until noodles are cooked. Drain water, then refreshed with cold water. Let this drain fully.

Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl. Serve in bowls, optionally topped with extra peanuts.

* I like to cook my own chicken, but it is a lot more work. For this, I marinated a pack of chicken legs and thighs with about 1/3 cup soy sauce, juice and zest of 1 lemon, 1cm grated fresh ginger, 1 Tbsp ground coriander and 1 tsp ground white pepper. I then barbecued these over a low heat for about an hour, then added a little more marinade before covering and cooling. I then shredded just before serving.

** For my North American friends: capsicum = peppers; spring onions = green onions; coriander = cilantro.