Grainy Goodness

Jasmine Rice Salad

with cucumbers, edamame and cilantro

SOUND BITE

Inspired by a delicious yet simple lunch I ate in a Vietnamese restaurant, this delicate, pretty salad is one of my personal favorites. I love the scent of jasmine rice cooking because it reminds me of popcorn. Heavenly! Everything in this salad bowl makes me happy: cucumbers and shallots sliced paper-thin, the tangy-sweet dressing, fresh cilantro, honey-roasted peanuts. I mean, come on!

More About Fish Sauce

If you’ve never used fish sauce before, now’s your chance. It’s one of the most important ingredients in Vietnamese and Thai cooking but, I’m warning you, it kinda smells like a mermaid’s armpit. 

At least that’s how I’ve heard it described, but I’ve never been able to verify the accuracy of that statement. 

Please don’t let that scare you off though— fish sauce is liquid gold.

It's made by packing tiny anchovies in salt and letting them ferment for months or sometimes years — until they break down into a rich, salty, umami-loaded liquid. 

It’s briny and funky and it’s the secret to that "can’t-quite-put-your-finger-on-it" flavor in so many Southeast Asian dishes.

In my Jasmine Rice Salad, there’s one tablespoon of fish sauce in the dressing—but I promise you your salad won’t taste like a dock at low tide. 

That little splash brings out the brightness of the lime, the punch of the gingerroot and the zing of the rice vinegar. 

It pulls everything together and makes this homemade salad taste like it came from your favorite Vietnamese restaurant.

Could you use soy sauce in a pinch? Sure. But you’d be missing the boat.

Fish sauce smells like trouble—yet somehow makes sauces and dressings taste terrific! 

Proof that sometimes stinky ingredients make magical meals. Think aged cheeses, vinegar (especially apple cider vinegar) and garlic. Smelly, but oh so good.