Cold Vietnamese Shrimp and Noodle Salad

Patricia Wells has a new cookbook out, and while the food focuses largely on home grown French food, there is a foray into food that originated in countries that were former colonies of France.

This is one of those recipes and it is fantastic--not only is it delicious, it can be assembles ahead of time, and it is light and filling at the same time.  Eliminate the shrimp and it can be vegetarian.  It uses mung bean noodles so it is also gluten free.  This salad is called bun nem nuong, and it is typically eaten for breakfast, with meatballs instead of shrimp, so that is another option.

2 oz. thin mung bean vermicilli noodles
1 lb. shrimp, cooked

1 green papaya julienned (we used a ripe one and it was very good)
1 cucumber julienned
6 tbs. cilantro chopped
6 tbs. basil, thinnly sliced
6 tbs. mint, thinnly sliced
6 tbs. scallions, thinnly sliced
6 tbs. peanuts coarsely chopped

Dressing:
1-2 red bird's eye chilis thinly sliced
3/4 c. lime juice
5 tbs. Vietnamese nam pla (this is key--the Thai nam pla is much strongere flavored)
1/3 c. sugar
1 tbs. minced garlic

Cook noodles in boiling water for 1 minute, rinse under cold water and set aside.
Mix dressing ingredients together, and pour over noodles.  Add vegetables, herbs, and shrimp, toss.  Top with peanuts.
This can all be done up to 8 hours ahead of serving it.