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Rainbow Vegetable Rice Noodle Salad with Nut Butter Sauce

This rice noodle salad is a perfect summer meal, it's basically a no-heat, no-cooking recipe except just for the rice noodles. You can throw this combo together super quickly, with chewy rice noodles, colorful refreshing veggies, crispy tofu, aromatic herbs, and a creamy nut butter sauce.

The other day I was craving pad thai, one of my all time favorite meals but it was so hot and I didn't want to end up covered in sweat when I sit down to eat. So instead I made this rice noodle salad version! The flavor profile is reminiscent of pad thai but without you having to break a sweat.

For the vegetables, you can pretty much use whatever you have in the fridge but I do recommend including as much variety as possible, not only for the nutritional values but also for the vibrant, mood-lifting colors. And don't skip the mangos and basils! They add such a beautiful tropical flair to the dish.

And to make the sauce more allergen-friendly, I used almond butter instead of peanut butter, but feel free to use whatever nut butter you prefer!

For my visual besties who prefer video tutorials, I will be posting the video how-to on my Instagram Reel and Tiktok.


INGREDIENTS:

*makes 2 servings

6 oz rice noodle
14 oz extra tofu
1/4 head purple cabbage, thinly shredded
1 carrot, shredded
1 zucchini, spiralized
1 large mango, cubed
1/2 cup basil leaves
1/2 cup mint leaves

For the sauce -
2 tablespoon almond butter, or sub other nut butter
2 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 lime, squeezed for juice
2 teaspoon maple syrup

TO MAKE:

- Cook the rice noodles according to package instructions, then drain and immediately rinse under cold water to prevent sticking;
- Cut the tofu into 1/2 inch cubes, I air fried them in my air fryer at 390°F for 20 minutes, you can also pan fry them with a bit of oil, till all sides are golden crispy;
- Meanwhile, prep the veggies, spiralize the zucchini, shred the carrot and purple cabbage, and cube the mango;
- Make the sauce by whisking all sauce ingredients together till smooth and well combined;
- Toss the rice noodles, veggies, herbs, mangos and the sauce together, enjoy!

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