Simple and Delicious Thai-Style Butterfly Pea Noodle Salad, Extremely Eye-Catching

How to prepare Thai-style Butterfly Pea Noodle Salad

• 1

  Prepare the ingredients

  Shrimp should be peeled, removing the head, rinsed with clean water, and you can cut the shrimp in half from head to tail, leaving about 1cm to make it more visually appealing.

  Use salt to scrub the entire body of the squid, firmly grasp the tentacles and gently pull both the innards and the tentacles out of the body.

  Continue to gently pull the translucent backbone out of the squid’s body. You can use a knife to make a cut from head to tail, scraping out the internal organs to make cleaning the squid’s belly easier.

  Lightly cut a line down the squid’s body, with one hand pressing down on the flesh and the other hand firmly holding the skin and pulling hard to peel off the squid’s skin. Just cut off the head from the innards, discard the eyes and innards, and rinse clean.

  Soak the clams in diluted salt water for about 3 hours to help clean all the sand and dirt inside. After that, use a brush to scrub the outer shell clean.

  Take 4 cloves of garlic, peel them, and chop the rest along with the shallots finely.

  Wash the cucumber and cut it into strands. Rinse and drain the bean sprouts, lettuce, and Vietnamese coriander. After washing the tomatoes, cut them into wedges.

  Tip: You can bend the shrimp’s body to reveal the joints and the line on the shrimp’s back, using a toothpick to gently remove the black line, helping the shrimp become cleaner and tastier.

  If the squid’s pouch is torn, causing the inside to turn black, just rinse the squid under running water.

  You can apply a thin layer of cooking oil on your hands before chopping garlic to prevent your hands from feeling the burning sensation caused by the garlic.

  

  

  

  
• 2

  Coloring and Blanching the Noodles

  Add butterfly pea flowers to a pot of water, boil until the water comes back to a boil, then remove all the flowers and keep only the water. At this point, the water will have an eye-catching blue color.

  Take the dry noodles, cut them into short pieces about 10 – 15cm, and put them in the pot of boiling butterfly pea water for blanching, using chopsticks to stir evenly to absorb the color. Remove the noodles and immediately place them in a bowl of ice water to keep them chewy and delicious.

  Note:

  • Blanch the noodles briefly; do not blanch for too long, as the noodles will become mushy and lose their deliciousness. It is best to blanch for 1 – 2 minutes.
  • It is advisable to blanch in ice water until the noodles are cool, then remove them to drain.

  
• 3

  Mixing the Noodles

  Add 50ml of oil to the pan and wait for it to heat up, then add minced garlic and sauté until fragrant, then turn off the heat.

  Add both the oil and the sautéed garlic to the noodles, mixing well to prevent the noodles from sticking together.

  Tip:

  • While sautéing, use chopsticks to stir continuously on low heat to avoid burning the garlic.
  • When the garlic turns slightly golden, you can turn off the heat; if it turns golden brown, it may burn after turning off the heat due to the residual heat in the oil.

  

  
• 4

  Make the sauce

  Add 10g of garlic, 15g of chili, and 50g of palm sugar, and pound all the ingredients together. Once the ingredients are mashed, add 50ml of fish sauce to the mortar, squeeze in the juice of 1 lemon. Finally, add tomatoes and coriander leaves, and pound gently.

  Note:

  It’s best to pound from top to bottom, evenly and gently to avoid fish sauce or other ingredients splashing into your eyes or onto your clothes!

  
• 5

  Prepare the side dishes

  Put a pot of water on the stove to boil, then add shrimp, squid, and clams to cook until done, then remove and place them on a separate plate.

  Cut the tofu into small squares and fry in hot oil on low heat until golden brown, then remove to drain the oil.

  Tip:

  • Do not boil seafood for too long, as it will become dry and tough, losing its freshness.
  • For squid and shrimp, boil for about 1 minute, until the meat firms up.
  • For clams, stir gently while boiling, and when they all open their mouths, they are done.

  • Wait for the oil to heat up before adding the tofu to fry on low heat, until it turns light golden, then adjust the heat to medium and turn quickly to ensure each piece of tofu is evenly golden, remove and drain the oil, then turn off the stove. This helps the fried tofu to be crispy on the outside and absorb less oil when fried on low heat.

  

  
• 6

  Stir-fry minced meat

  Add shallots to the hot oil in the pan. Add the minced meat and stir-fry evenly, seasoning with 1 tablespoon of fish sauce, 1/2 tablespoon of sugar, and 1 teaspoon of seasoning powder, stirring well until the meat absorbs the seasoning and is cooked through.

  Note: Do not stir-fry the meat for too long, as it will become dry and lose the sweet, tender flavor of the minced meat.

  
• 7

  Completion

  Arrange the noodles neatly in the center of a large plate, with minced meat, greens, cucumber, shrimp, squid, and boiled clams surrounding it. Add fried shallots and roasted peanuts on top, then drizzle the sauce that brings the distinctive flavor of the dish.

  Note: Do not mix all the noodles together; only mix a sufficient amount to eat. Pre-mixing will cause the noodles to become mushy and lose their chewy texture, and importantly, it enhances the aesthetic appeal of the dish.

  
• 8

  Final Product

  The mixed vermicelli is dyed a beautiful green color from butterfly pea flowers combined with a rich Thai-style sauce along with a multitude of side dishes, enhancing the sweet taste from seafood and the crunchy richness from each roasted peanut, making it instantly addictive.