Ginger-Lemon Salad Soup

Ingredients

• 4 servings asian fish sauce (nuoc mam or nam pla)
• 2 tablespoons cilantro leaves fresh
• 0.3 cup ginger fresh minced
• 2 stalks lemon grass fresh (each 12 to 15 in.)
• 0.7 cup long thin
• 0.7 cup long thin
• 2 tablespoons slivered mint leaves fresh
• 2 ounces rice noodles dried thin (mai fun or rice sticks)
• 1 quart vegetable broth 

Equipment

• bowl
• frying pan
• sieve
• kitchen scissors

Directions

1. Rinse lemon grass; trim and discard stem ends and leaves, and pull off and discard coarse outer layer.
2. Cut stalks into 1/2-inch pieces.
3. In a 2- to 3-quart pan over high heat, combine lemon grass, ginger, and broth. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 20 minutes. Quick-chill soup (nest soup-filled pan in ice water and stir often until soup is cool, 15 to 20 minutes), or cover and refrigerate until cold, at least 1 hour or up to 1 day.
4. Meanwhile, in a 1- to 1 1/2-quart pan, bring 2 cups water to a boil.
5. Add rice noodles and stir to separate. Cook until tender to bite, about 3 minutes.
6. Pour into a fine strainer over the sink and rinse with cold water until cool, about 1 minute. With scissors, cut noodles in 2 or 3 places to make smaller pieces.
7. In a bowl, mix noodles, carrot, and daikon.
8. Pour broth mixture through a fine strainer into four wide bowls; discard residue. Mound noodle mixture equally in centers of bowls. Scatter cilantro and mint on top.
9. Add fish sauce to taste.