Glass Noodles Salad with Beef

My question is, do I call this a Thai Beef Glass Noodle Salad or a Vietnamese Beef Glass Noodle Salad? Both recipes call for fish sauce which I would have thought was distinctively Vietnamese, but the Thai one has Thai basil leaves in it so ... 

I'm just going to call it Glass Noodles Salad with Beef, if that's alright with you.

I realised later that I thought wrong about glass noodles containing less calories than the vermicelli. Oops.

Nevertheless, it was a very delicious meal!

for the beef

almost 300gm of sandwich steak, sliced thinly

1 TBSP gochujang sauce (optional! it will give you a Korean feel, though)

1 TBSP soy sauce

1 TBSP sesame oil

1 tsp sugar

2 cloves of garlic, minced

dash of black pepper

for the noodles

2 medium sized carrots, julienned - blanched

1 zucchini cucumber, julienned

1 medium sized tomato, diced

1 handful of chopped fresh coriander

a few sprigs of mint (optional)

1 1/2 red chilli, sliced thinly

2 handfuls of bean sprouts - blanched

1 shallot, sliced thinly

bean vermicelli (glass noodles)

for the sauce

2 TBSP fish sauce

1 TBSP sugar

lime juice from 1 lime

1 bird's eye chilli, unseeded and chopped finely (optional for some fire)
chopped peanuts or cashew nuts

Directions:

1. Marinade beef and leave in fridge for an hour before planning to cook it.

2. Soak glass noodles in cold water for 5 minutes while boiling water in pot.

3. Once water is at boil, strain the noodles from the cold water and put into pot.

4. When noodles turn clear (should be about 3 minutes), strain and rinse with cold water. Set aside until water is fully drained from noodles.

5. Prepare the sauce in a small bowl and set aside.

6. Add some oil to the pan. Once pan is heated up, throw in the red peppers and just as it softens, put in the beef slices. Stir fry for a few minutes until cooked. Set aside to rest.

7. Once beef is resting, put carrots, zucchini, shallots, chilli, bean sprouts, tomato, coriander and noodles into large bowl. Pour in sauce and mix evenly. (Mint is set aside for later.)

 8.  Place some mixed noodles onto plates. Top it with beef and garnish with chopped mint.

9. Ready to serve.

I did set aside some chopped coriander together with the mint for garnish.

Well, you can always stir in the beef into your noodles prior to serving, but it's really up to you. The Korean hot pepper sauce (gochujang) will throw you off guard, making your brain think you're having Korean for dinner, but once it's stirred in with the noodles, your tummy will tell you it's Thai/Vietnamese because of the fish sauce and lime.

They say that this is a good dish for summer as it's light and fresh (thanks to the lime). I think it's a fantastic dish to impress your mates because it's colourful and looks healthy, haha!

Recipes referred to:
Mummy, I Can Cook

Mint Tea & Tagine