Rice noodle cakes

I love this dinner for many reasons.  It's much more suited to summer, I suppose, but I felt like something quite light and almost healthy for dinner tonight.  It would be a good recipe for my family back home, because it's gluten free, dairy free AND allium free, which is something my dad is sensitive to.

The basic recipe comes from one of my little Australian Women's Weekly cookbooks - they're great wee books, with super & simple recipes.  I've, of course, fiddled with the recipe a bit myself because it's what I do.

The rice noodles are something that are readily available in your average New Zealand supermarket, where Asian ingredients are very mainstream.  Here in the UK, I have to make regular special trips to my reasonably local Thai supermarket to stock up.

Ingredients
200g rice vermicelli noodles
1 carrot, coarsely grated
1 courgette, coarsely grated
a big handful of coriander, chopped*
2 spring onions, shredded (optional)
1 small hot green (or red) chilli (optional)
1 x 215g bag frozen cold water prawns (optional)
4 eggs, lightly beaten**

to serve:
sweet chilli sauce
gluten free soy sauce

*If you're  not a fan of coriander, you could always try thai basil or similar for a punchy herby flavour.  I've not done this, as I love coriander, but I know not everyone does

** If you don't add all the extra ingredients, you can probably get away with 3 eggs.

Method
Put the noodles in a heatproof bowl and cover with boiling water.  Leave for about 5 minutes, or until tender.  Drain and then snip coarsely with scissors.

I tend to do all my grating and chopping of everything else while the noodles soak.

Combine the noodles with all other ingredients in a bowl.

Heat a little oil in a frying pan over a medium-high heat, and fry spoonfuls of the mix until browned on each side.

I like to serve these with a mixture of sweet chilli & soy sauce, stirred together to taste.