Wombok Salad with Red Cabbage and Apple

80 g egg noodles, fresh
1 tbsp corn flour
2 cups vegetable oil
3 cups wombok, shredded
2 cups red cabbage, shredded
1 carrot
1 green apple
2 sprigs spring onion
1 cup coriander
¼ cup peanuts, crushed
3 tbsp white sesame seeds

Dressing
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp hot water
3 tbsp fish sauce
2 lime, juiced
1 tsp ginger, grated
1 tbsp coriander, stems only, finely chopped 
1 chilli, bird's eye, finely chopped

Noodles
In a large saucepan, bring water to boil and add egg noodles. Stir noodles so that they don’t stick together. Cook for 60 secs until noodles al-dente.

Drain in colander and rinse under cold water to remove excess starch and to prevent from sticking together. Spread out on a sheet pan to let noodles cool down. Dust dried noodles with corn flour.

In a large fry pan or deep saucepan, bring oil to a simmering point. You can test it by dropping a short strand of noodles into the oil and see if it quickly bubbles around it and fries.

Once heat is ready, slowly drop noodles into oil to fry for about 2-3 minutes or until golden brown colour. Remove and place on paper towels to remove excess oil.

Salad
Thinly slice wombok leaves starting at the bottom with the white leaves. Thinly slice red cabbage leaves. Peel and shred carrot into matchsticks.

Slice apple into thin matchstick strips and place into a bowl of salted cold water. When ready to assemble, remove from water and pat dry with paper towels. Wash scallions, (spring onion) remove roots and chop into 0.5cm rounds.

Wash cilantro (coriander) leaves well and roughly chop.

Dressing
Place sugar and hot water into a small mixing bowl and mix until sugar dissolves.
Add fish sauce, lime juice and grated ginger.

Mix well and taste. At this point you can add more lime juice or sugar depending how tangy you like it. Wash cilantro (coriander) sprigs well and finely chop. Add into dressing.
Finely chop chilli and add to dressing.

Assembly
In a large mixing bowl, toss wombok, red cabbage, carrot, apple and scallions (spring onion) together. Then add ¾ of the crispy fried noodles, cilantro, peanuts and sesame seeds and mix well with vegetables. 

If you are ready to serve, add half the dressing and toss well. If you are not ready to serve, leave this step out and only dress when ready to serve. Transfer salad to your serving bowl. Scatter remaining crispy fried noodles, cilantro (coriander), peanuts and sesame seeds on top to serve.

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