Turmeric Garlic Shrimp Vermicelli Noodles

I love noodle dishes. It’s so satisfying to slurp up noodles with a mouthwatering sauce and I love the mix of textures between the noodles, a protein, and various vegetables. Whenever there’s a bowl of pasta or pad thai in front of me, it’s gone in minutes. I can’t help it!

The challenge is, I also want to be healthy, I also want to feel great an hour after eating it and not be in a food coma. So what to do? I created this recipe so I can have my noodles and eat them too.

Vermicelli noodles are rice noodles — you can find them in the Asian foods aisle in nearly any grocery store. They’re gluten-free and are pretty light in the grand scheme of the noodle world. They also absorb flavors wonderfully.

Enter — sauce. The sauce of this dish is the star. The noodles act as a stage to showcase the sauce, and the carrots highlight the yellow turmeric color.

Finally, this pasta dish is served with a type of “dipping sauce” I like to tell guests to try it and then decide how much they would like to add — most often guests ask for more! When I cook for myself, I pour a bit over my pasta when I sit down to eat it.

Turmeric, ginger, and garlic are famously known for being great anti-inflammatory ingredients and great antioxidants, and this dish is loaded with them!

Serves 4 (it’s great as leftovers, and it could feed 2 very hungry people)

Pasta

1/2 # Shrimp, peeled and deveined, rough chopped
3 Tbsp Avocado or Coconut Oil
1 Shallot, minced
1 Spring Onion, thinly sliced on a bias
2 Tbsp Ginger, peeled, grated or minced
1 Tbsp Turmeric, dried and ground
3 Garlic Cloves, minced — reserve 2 tsp for dipping sauce.
1/4 Cup Carrots, shredded or sliced
1 # Vermicelli Rice Noodles
1 tsp Fish Sauce (+more if needed at the end)
1 tsp Sesame Oil
2 tsp Honey
2 Tbsp Chives, thinly sliced, to garnish (optional)

Dipping Sauce:
2 Tbsp Lime juice
1 tsp Honey
1.5 Tbsp Fish Sauce
1 tsp red chili flakes
2 tsp garlic, minced

To make:

1. Bring a pot of water to a boil on the stove.
2. Make dipping sauce, reserve
3. Heat oil in a saute pan and add shallots, onions, ginger, turmeric, garlic, and carrots.
4. Saute on medium-low heat for 2–3 minutes, then add in raw shrimp. Cook all the way through. Remove from heat and set aside until noodles are ready.
5. Cook noodles in boiling water, reserving 1/4 cup liquid, strain and toss into saute pan with shrimp.
6. Add in the fish sauce, sesame oil, and honey and cook until heated through. Add salt to taste. If you need more liquid in the pan, add reserved pasta water 1 Tbsp at a time. Alternatively, you can add some of the dipping sauce. note — this isn’t supposed to be a really saucy noodle dish, the sauce should be thick enough to cling to the noodles and cover them completely but not puddle at the bottom of your bowl.
7. Plate, garnish with chives, and serve with remaining dipping sauce.

Originally published at https://thesommchef.com.