An Easy, No-Cook Dinner: Deconstructed Shrimp Salad Rolls

Deconstructed Shrimp Salad Rolls

Prep Time 15 minutes
Course Main Course
Servings 2 people

Ingredients
  

  • 2 tsp soy sauce
  • 2 Tbsp tahini or peanut butter
  • 4 Tbsps sweet chilli sauce
  • 2 tsp red wine vinegar
  • 10-15 shrimp (pre-cooked)
  • 1/2 pkg rice vermicelli (~115g or 4oz)
  • 6 cups kaleslaw or coleslaw vegetable mix (or sliced kale, brussel sprouts, broccoli stalks, etc.)
  • 3 Tbsps roasted peanuts (crushed)
  • handful fresh mint or basil (sliced, for garnish)

Instructions
 

  • Boil some water in a pot or kettle. Place vermicelli in hot water and let sit for 5 minutes, until tender (or per package directions). Drain vermicelli and let cool.
  • Mix together soy sauce, tahini/peanut butter, sweet chilli sauce and red wine vinegar until smooth.
  • In a large, shallow bowl or platter, place the kaleslaw/cole slaw mix. Top with vermicelli. Place shrimp on top of vermicelli, then drizzle the dressing over the bowl. Sprinkle with mint or basil. Serve.
Keyword Peanut Butter, Peanut Satay Sauce, Rice Vermicelli, Salad Rolls, Shrimp, Vietnamese

And now for the details…

Hi there folks! It has been awhile yet again, but I am coming to you with a nice, easy, no-cook recipe for these hot, summer days!

This recipe was born from a discussion I had with my friend Krystal about ideas for meals that require little to no cooking for prep. Krystal is a dietician who specializes in traumatic brain injury (TBI) recovery. A question she had gotten was about meal ideas that required little to no cooking. Fun fact for you folks out there who have never experienced a concussion or TBI: some things that we normally consider as simple as chopping vegetables or multi-tasking in the kitchen (and hoping not to burn something) is a daunting or unmanageable task when the brain is working so hard simply to heal and provide basic function after injury. And so, me and Krystal put our (healing) brains together and came up with some ideas. And as one of our ideas, this recipe was born.

This recipe is nice and simple, with not too many ingredients to manage, and no cooking required, except to boil some water. Now, one could argue that you are technically cooking the noodles, since they are sitting in boiling water. Fair. But you do not need monitor them on the stove, just boil the water, pour it over the noodles, and then let them sit for a few minutes. And the joy of this is you do not even need a stove to do this. A plug-in kettle works just fine for the job!

We are also going sans cooking by using pre-cooked shrimp. If you want to get fancy, you could always purchase the shrimp raw and cook it and cool it yourself. But there are tons of options nowadays, particularly in the frozen aisle, for precooked shrimp. All you need to do is thaw, and it’s ready!

And so, to get started, boil that water! If you are boiling the water in the pot, once the water has boiled, turn the heat off and add the vermicelli straight into the pot. If you are using a kettle, place the vermicelli into some sort of heat resistant dish (I just used a piece of tupperware), and then pour the water over noodles. If any of the noodles are sticking out of the water, use a fork or spoon to gently press them into the water as the rest soften. Let the noodles sit for about 5 minutes or until tender. Double check the package of your vermicelli to make sure there are not some special different directions for prep needed for your particular noodles. Once tender, strain in a fine sieve, and let sit to fully drain and cool slightly.

As the noodles are “cooking”, draining and cooling, mix together the soy sauce, peanut butter or tahini, sweet chilli sauce and red wine vinegar and set aside. If you are using peanut butter, I would recommend either using the processed peanut butter. If you are using a “just peanuts” type of peanut butter, let the peanut butter come right down to room temperature, or you will end up with a fairly solid “sauce”.

If the shrimp is still slightly frozen, run them under cold water until thawed. Ensure the water is drained completely from the shrimp, even drying them on a paper towel before assembling in your dish.

In a large, shallow bowl spread out the pre-chopped mixed kaleslaw. The kaleslaw is completely a suggestion to make this recipe a little easier. Again, between Krystal and I, we discussed ways to make meal prep easier. And one of those ways is to buy your veggies already washed, trimmed and chopped. For some folks recovery from TBI, standing at a counter and chopping vegetables is just a wee bit too much for the brain to handle. Have you ever appreciated the level of concentration it takes your brain to keep you standing, carefully judging the distance to chop the produce to just the right size, all the while avoiding your fingers? I definitely have an appreciation for what my brain is capable of when it is operating at it’s “better”! If you want to chop your own veg, that is completely an option you can choose as well. Feel free to use any or all of kale, broccoli stems, brussel sprouts, carrots and/or cabbage, julienning or shredding the veggies so they are nice and small.

On top of the veg, we will add the drained and cooled noodles. Arrange the shrimp over the noodles. Drizzle the dressing over the entire dish. Sprinkle the crushed peanuts on top and end with the basil or mint. If you want to chop the basil or mint, you can do that before your sprinkle, OR you can simply tear the mint or basil leaves as you sprinkle them over the top of the dish.

Serve and enjoy.

Happy eating.