Pasta Salad with a Thai Twist

• 1 lb. of linguine pasta cooked or 1 lb of rice noodles softened in hot water for 10 mins. (I like the rice noodles best, but sometimes they're hard to find in a regular grocery store.)
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1 T. green, yellow, or red curry paste or just use curry powder.
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1/8 c. fish sauce or soy sauce

Note: fish sauce is the Thai version of soy sauce. It is just what it says it is. They take fish and put them in a barrel and let it ferment for months and then drain off the liquid. It smells horrible, but it sure makes the food taste good.

In a big sauce pan place the coconut milk and curry paste and bring to a simmer. Add the sugar and fish sauce or soy sauce. Taste and adjust to your liking with more sugar, or more soy sauce. Add the hot cooked noodles and toss. You want the noodles to absorb all the coconut milk and then cool down.

Salad
• 1 head Napa cabbage chopped
• peppers sliced (A combination of red, yellow, and orange is best. You know it's all about the presentation!)
• purple cabbage
• matchstick carrots if you don't have colorful peppers
• fresh bean sprouts
• a bunch of green onions sliced
• some cucumbers sliced
• 1 bunch of cilantro chopped or a lot of chopped fresh basil (Basil is best!)
• sliced water chestnuts
• a few big handfuls of baby spinach (you can add more or less of this to stretch the salad)

In a really large bowl add all the ingredients above.

Any of the veggies can be adjusted to your liking. If you don't have something don't worry. Just improvise or add a little more of something else. Once the noodles are cool toss them in the bowl with all the veggies.

Dressing
• 1 c. olive oil
• 3/4 c. rice wine vinegar
• 1 T. soy sauce
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1/2 t. seasame oil (optional)
• 1/2 t. ground ginger

Toss the salad all together and make all sorts of yummy sounds! Sprinkle a handful or two of chopped peanuts, or sugar glazed almonds. Taste it. I usually add a little more sugar, but it's up to you. This salad is huge so make sure you have a big group since it doesn't keep at all.