transparent noodles with prawns

The average Asian supermarket is full of wonders, you never know what you might find down those aisles and well, I probably spend too much time perusing those shelves and buying way too many things (as one does of course). So you see, I was particularly excited to discover the big bags of dried black fungus on a recent shopping trip to New Yen Yen Supermarket in Eastwood. First of all, I love mushrooms and black fungus is one of those things I've grown up eating in stir fries, braises, casseroles and to this day, it's one of those things I'd pick out of a dish just because I love it so much. Put me with a dish of black fungus, I can polish it off for you too easily.

So it was that I wandered off home with my bag of black fungus in hand and found this recipe for transparent noodles with prawns - thought I'd throw in a bit more black fungus than the recipe actually asked for; which makes perfect sense when you love black fungus.

Defrost 200g medium-large raw prawns. Soak 125g Korean vermicelli in boiling water for 4-5 minutes or until soft. Drain the noodles and set aside. Soak a big handful of black fungus in boiling water for 4-5 minutes or until soft, then drain. Heat 1 tbsp of sunflower oil in a wok and stir fry 2-3 cloves chopped garlic over medium heat for 1-2 minutes or until lightly browned. Add the prawns with 3 tbsp lime juice, 1 tbsp light soy sauce and cook for 2-3 minutes or until the prawns turn pink. Add the vermicelli and fungus and cook for another 3 minutes. Remove from the heat, add 2 tbsp of lemograss paste, 3-4 finely chopped shallots, 2 chopped chilliies, and mix together.

Top off with coriander leaves and a few slices of red chilli.

This dish is like a salad (refreshing and comes with a slight chilli bite) but yet decently filling to serve up as a meal at dinner time. Recipe has been tweaked slightly from Hamyln's '200 Thai favourites' which is my latest go to book for meals - going through a bit of a Thai food phase at the moment and absolutely loving all the recipes in this book; everything has turned out spot on and they're quick recipes to make too. Anyway, more recipes/cooking adventures to follow!