I made this salad for the first time last summer, it was a a scorching day, and my daughters kept insisting on having pasta for lunch. I didn’t have any gluten-free pasta at home at the time, and the weather wasn’t great for a hot lunch, so I thought of cooking something with rice noodles instead. Rice noodles are my favorite alternative to wheat-pasta as we try to avoid wheat as much as possible at home, and they taste delicious when cold. This salad has a lot of flavor and crunchiness, and I hope your kids enjoy it as much as mine do!

Ingredients 

• 300 g pad thai rice noodles - or noodles of your choice

• 3 cucumbers - peeled

• 3 tbsp black sesame seeds

• 1 tbsp Sesame oil for dressing

• Juice of 1 lemon for dressing

• ½ tsp sea salt (optional)

Preparation

1. Fill a medium pot halfway with water and bring to boil. Add the rice noodles and cook for 6 to 8 minutes or until soft. Drain and rinse well in cold water. Set aside to cool.

2. Peel and cut the cucumbers into thin slices. 

3. In a salad bowl, add the cold noodles, the cucumbers and sprinkle with the black sesame seeds.

4. Dress with sesame oil, lemon juice and a pinch of salt.

Tips: I choose rice noodles to make this salad gluten-free. Rice noodles are a great alternative if you don’t want wheat in your body. When cooking noodles, it is often good practice to follow the boiling time indicated on the back of the package as it might vary on different types of noodles.