A chilled Asian salad for those hot Sydney days – lightly blanched celery, roasted salted peanuts, crunchy black fungus and mung bean vermicelli. Great for lunch, dinner, or as a side dish.

Ingredients

• 2 stalk of young celery, sliced, briefly blanched in hot water with salt and dash of oil; drain well
• a few cloud ear black fungus
• a small  handful of peanuts
• a small bundle of mung bean vermicelli (approximately 30g)
• 1 fresh chili, seed removed, sliced
• 1/4 capsicum, cleaned, thinly sliced
• 1 tbsp. sesame oil
• 2 tsp. soy sauce
• 2 tsp. dark soy sauce
• 2 tsp caster sugar
• 2 tsp. balsamic vinegar
• salt and white pepper to taste

Method

• Mix soy sauce, dark soy sauce, caster sugar and balsamic vinegar in a bowl, mix well making sure the sugar is dissolved
• Soak the cloud ear fungus in hot water for 20 minutes, then blanched in hot water for 5 minutes; drain using a sieve above the sink; rinse with cold water
• Blanch mung bean vermicelli in hot water for 2 minutes or until soften; drain using a sieve above a sink; rinse with cold water; roughly cut up the noodles
• Cook the peanuts in hot water with some salt until soft (approximately 20 minutes), drain well; set aside to cool
• Toss all ingredients in a large mixing bowl; refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving.