Before I got into the habit of prepackaged soup for lunch every day, I used to be pretty darn great at making my lunch. Mostly because I love food but I am also really stingy when it comes to buying it from crappy overpriced cafes.

On Wednesday I had leftovers from Vietnamese rice paper rolls and used them to create a pretty epic salad. It tasted just like dinner the night before, only without the fuss of rolling the ingredients into a sheet of sticky rice paper.

I give you, the Deconstructed Rice Paper Roll Salad:

So delicious. So easy for an office lunch.

At home:

The night before, poach some chicken breast. Do this by placing the chicken in a saucepan, covering the chicken with water and bringing it to the boil. Reduce the heat and let simmer for 10 minutes. Turn the stove off and let the chicken cool slightly, then remove from the saucepan and use two forks to shred it finely on a chopping board. I used 400g of chicken and it was enough for 8 rice paper rolls and two salads.

Chop up some ice berg lettuce, cucumber and avocado and grate some carrot. Put it all in a container with the chicken to take to work the next day.

At work:

Boil the kettle and soak some rice vermicelli noodles while you get the rest of your ingredients together.

Put everything in a bowl and once the vermicelli is soft, add it as well. Take some Hoi Sin sauce (and chilli or Sriracha if that floats your boat) and sprinkle about a tablespoon on top. I added some water to my Hoi Sin to make it runnier and easier to ‘sprinkle’.

Add some coriander to the top and you’re done! A quick and deliciously fresh office lunch. And it tastes just like a rice paper roll.

I used to work at a Thai/Vietnamese restaurant that made rice paper rolls. I was there every Sunday and Thursday night from about age 14 to 17 and made a whopping $8 an hour. I think my former boss Sylvia would be proud, maybe. Perhaps if she weren’t quite so stern and didn’t spend so much time trying to set me up with customers’ sons.