Make this Cold Noodle Salad + Wraps to keep the kitchen cool!

Everyone is blogging about ways to eat without heating up the kitchen on these hot days, and I'm following the trend. If you use bean thread noodles (aka Mai fun, rice vermicelli, etc.), you don't even have to cook those.  This salad is satisfying and bright in flavor, and as a bonus, it also works really well as wrap filling for spring rolls or, my preference, collard green wraps. Bring it to a party, a picnic, or to work.  Or just sit around on the porch sweating and snacking on this while you drink beer and dribble everything down the front of your shirt.  That's how I'm doing it. 

Cold Noodle Salad + Wraps

Serves 4-6

Dressing

3 tablespoons soy sauce or tamari

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 - 3 tablespoons chili-garlic sauce

1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil

2 teaspoons fresh grated ginger

1 teaspoon maple syrup or brown sugar

Salad

4 ounces cooked bean thread noodles or angel hair pasta, drained

2 radishes, peeled and julienned

1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and julienned

1 large carrot, peeled and julienned

2 cups julienned purple cabbage

3 scallions, ends trimmed and cut into matchsticks

2 cups loosely packed baby spinch leaves (omit if making wraps)

1 cup loosely packed cilantro leaves, tough stems removed

2-3 tablespoons chopped peanuts (optional)

Combine all dressing ingredients, then add salad ingredients and stir thoroughly to coat.  If you prefer, you can use clean, trimmed collard green leaves as wraps; just fill 6-8 leaves (depending on size) with equal amounts of the salad.  To prepare leaves for use, cut off stem and use a small knife to trim the spine of the collard down the middle of the leaf. Cut it so that the spine is flat with the rest of the collard.