Thai white radish and glass noodle salad with beetroot egg

This makes a gorgeous summer party recipe. It’s a bit like a Thai papaya salad, which is one of my favourites when I’m travelling, but instead of the raw unripe green papayas, which are hard to find and tricky to digest even if you do find them, I use a combination of white radish, mung bean noodles and cabbage – this gives you a lovely white backdrop to the bright colours of the chilli, green beans and of course the bright yellow and pink boiled eggs!

You can also try this with tempeh, tofu, shredded chicken or a piece of pan-fried fish. In the summer you could add sautéed mung bean sprouts for protein. In the winter, make a delicious dashi stock (see here) or bone broth (see here) and use to simmer the salad ingredients for a lovely Thai-style soup, topped with the eggs as per the recipe, or you could even just poach them in the soup. Save the beetroot pickling liquid to add some sour flavour to a dal.

Serves 2–3

1 x 80g packet mung-bean glass noodles

1 tbsp ghee

3 garlic cloves, minced

¼ white cabbage (about 200g), shredded

100g (¾ cup) green beans

2 pinches of sea salt

1 large white radish (mooli), grated or julienned

small bunch of fresh coriander, chopped

2 spring onions, very thinly sliced

40g (¼ cup) cashews or almonds, coarsely chopped and toasted, to serve

1 red Thai chilli, thinly sliced, to serve

FOR THE BEETROOT EGGS

3 medium eggs

120ml (½ cup) water

60ml (¼ cup) apple cider vinegar

big pinch of salt

½ small beetroot, peeled and grated

FOR THE DRESSING

4 tbsp lime juice

1½ tbsp raw honey or light jaggery (best for colour)

2½ tbsp sunflower oil or macadamia oil

½ tbsp fish sauce

pinch of sea salt

1 Start with the beetroot eggs. Place the eggs in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring up to the boil, switch off the heat and leave for 5 minutes. Cool under a cold running tap for 2–3 minutes and peel.

2 Mix together 120ml (½ cup) water, vinegar, salt and beetroot in a small bowl and leave the eggs in there for around 30 minutes until pink in colour, turning occasionally for even coverage. Remove the eggs, give them a quick rinse and pat dry.

3 Cook the glass noodles according to the packet instructions, then leave to drain and dry out a little.

4 Place the ingredients for the dressing in a jam jar and shake well until emulsified and thickened.

5 Melt the ghee in a large saucepan and gently sauté the garlic, cabbage and green beans with the salt until tender, then at the last minute add the white radish and sauté for a further minute.

6 Take the pan off the heat, then allow to cool a little before tossing through the noodles, coriander, spring onions and half of the dressing.

7 Pour over the rest of the dressing, cut the pink eggs in half lengthways, season and arrange alongside. Sprinkle with the chopped nuts, decorate with the sliced chilli and serve.

FEELING
VATA

Use more oil and make sure the veggies are well cooked.

FEELING
PITTA

Skip the chilli and opt for jaggery to sweeten the dressing.

FEELING
KAPHA

Increase your portion of all the veggies and have less of the egg.