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Super-Light Noodles, Rice Is Super
- BY DANA JACOBI FOR THE AMERICAN
INSTITUTE FOR CANCER RESEARCH
Rice noodles, popular across
Southeast Asia to southern China, are essential to many dishes,
including savory-sweet pad thai, slurpy Vietnamese phô,
and curry-flavored Singapore noodles. Sold now in many American
supermarkets, they are easy to use in flavorful one-dish meals
like Thai Rice Noodle Soup with Shrimp.
This light pasta is made from
rice ground into a fine flour, mixed with water and slowly dried.
It contains no wheat, gluten, eggs, cholesterol, or fat. Because
they are already cooked, you need only soak rice noodles in hot
water until soft before using them.
These not-quite-white noodles,
brittle and translucent, come folded into skeins and in different
thicknesses, from angel hair-fine vermicelli, used in soups,
and wider, linguini-flat rice sticks used both in soups and stir-fries,
to fettucini-width noodles for stir-fries. In ethnic markets,
you may see them called mai fun or bùnh, depending on
their thickness and the country in which they were produced.
To prepare rice noodles, first
place them in a plastic bag and separate off the amount you want
to use. This prevents bits of dried noodles from scattering as
you break them apart. Allow one to two ounces for each serving
of soups and salads, and three ounces for every serving of a
main entrée.
Traditionally, rice noodles
are soaked in cold water until soft, at least an hour, then drained
and plunged into boiling water.
Today, many cooks just cover
them with boiling water in a bowl and soak the noodles until
soft and tender, three to 10 minutes, depending on their thickness.
Always rinse the softened noodles under cold water before using.
This washes away the starch that makes noodles stick together
and turns soups and sauces cloudy. To reduce clumping. leave
the reconstituted noodles moist if you are not using them immediately.
If desired, use scissors to cut long noodles after soaking ,
so they are easier to eat.
Thai Rice Noodle Soup with
Shrimp - Makes 8 servings.
- 4 oz. dried rice noodles,
broken in half
- 4 slices fresh ginger, scored
with a knife
- 2-inch piece fresh lemongrass,
halved lengthwise and mashed flat with a knife*
- 1/2-1 tsp. Thai red curry
paste, or to taste
- 8 cups fat-free, reduced-sodium
chicken broth
- 1 small red onion, cut lengthwise
into 1/4-inch slices
- 8 large cherry tomatoes, halved
- 16 raw medium shrimp, shelled
and deveined
- 1 cup canned straw mushrooms,
rinsed and drained
- 1 Tbsp. reduced-sodium soy
sauce or fish sauce
- 2 fresh limes, one juiced,
one cut into 4 wedges
- 8-12 thin slices red chili
pepper, or to taste
Place the noodles in a large
bowl. Pour in boiling water to cover and let soak just until
pliable. Drain in a sieve and set aside.
Place ginger slices, lemongrass
(if using), curry paste and broth in a deep saucepan. Bring it
a boil, reduce the heat and simmer 5 minutes. Add the onion and
simmer until almost tender. Add tomatoes and shrimp. Simmer just
until shrimp turn pink. Add the mushrooms, soy or fish sauce,
lime juice, noodles and chili pepper.
Remove from heat and cover.
Let stand until the noodles and mushrooms are heated through.
Remove ginger and lemongrass. Serve garnished with lime wedges.
* If whole, fresh lemongrass
is not available, omit it. Do not use packaged, cut-up lemongrass
or the powdered form.
Per serving: 87 calories, less
than 1 g. total fat (0 g. saturated fat), 15 g. carbohydrate,
6 g. protein, 1 g. dietary fiber, 760 mg. sodium.
_______________________________________
“Something Different”
is written for the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR)
by Dana Jacobi, author of The Joy of Soy and recipe creator for
AICR’s Stopping Cancer Before It Starts.
AICR offers a Nutrition Hotline
(1-800-843-8114) 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET Monday-Friday. This free
service allows you to ask a registered dietitian questions about
diet, nutrition and cancer. AICR is the only major cancer charity
focused exclusively on the link between diet, nutrition and cancer.
It provides a range of education programs that help Americans
learn to make changes for lower cancer risk. AICR also supports
innovative research in cancer prevention and treatment at universities,
hospitals and research centers across the U.S. It has provided
more than $68 million for research in diet, nutrition and cancer.
AICR’s Web address is www.aicr.org. AICR is a member of the
World Cancer Research Fund International.
_______________________________________
RECIPE POSTED
JANUARY 25, 2005
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