Oriental Salad

[Guest JennyK]

Hello,

I absolutely love the Chinese Salad that is made with the following ingredients:

1 bag Coleslaw

1/4 cup oil (I use olive oil)

1/4 cup vinegar

4 ounces slivered almonds

1 cup Sunflower seeds

1/4 cup sugar

Oriental Ramen Noodles

Oriental Ramen Noodles Seasoning packet

I'm supposed to avoid vinegar and obviously the ramen noodles, and the ramen seasoning packet, which contains msg is not good. I'm not diagnosed with celiac disease, but doing much better not eating gluten. Any substitute ideas for this recipe for the vinegar, ramen noodles and ramen seasoning packet?

Thanks in advance for your ideas,

Jenny

[ReneCox]

THAI Kitchen makes bunch of gluten free rice based noodles that taste alot like Ramen noodles. You can find them in the Ethnic foods section in many grocery stores.

[RiceGuy]

My first thought on the noodles is to use those cellophane noodles. They are made from mung beans, so should be gluten-free, but of course do verify the ingredients.

I'm not sure about the vinegar though. Obviously grain vinegar is out, but what about white wine vinegar, or apple cider vinegar? Other than that, maybe lemon juice?

The seasoning packet - I'd look at the ingredients, and just use whatever spices I like. Last I knew those packets had a load of salt in them, or was it the MSG? Hmmm...

[missy'smom]

Ramen noodles are fried so I was thinking substitute a rice noodle that can be fried so that you'll have good flavor. I was checking this out this weekend and there is a type of noodle called Maifun that is made from rice and can be fried. The instructions for doing this are on the package. But I have seen this type of salad at places with salad bars, like Whole Foods with noodles other than ramen. They looked like the maifun too but didn't look fried. So, I'm wondering if they just put them in raw and let them soak up the flavor.

[Jestgar]

Maifun is way fun to cook. It poofs up in the pan like jiffy pop, only quicker.

[Guest JennyK]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions.

[gfp]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions.

Is it vinegar you can't have for some reason or the gluten?

Good quality (real) rice vinegar is gluten-free and the correct thing to use.... so you don't really need modifications.

seasoning.... some nice toasted sesame oil goes a long way.... you can also roast onions or shallots (scallions?) until they get dry and add this to the sesame oil.