This isn't a difficult dish to make, but it's important for visual appeal that the vegetables are sliced to about the same size. Apart from the mung bean noodles and sesame dressing, there are no rules for the other ingredients to use, although you should always have a good mix of colours. I used carrot, cucumber, yellow bell pepper, white radish and pressed bean curd, but you can also add (or substitute) egg (make it into a thin omelette, then cut it into fine strands), red bell pepper (but don't use green because the flavour is too grassy), spinach (blanch it then squeeze out as much water as possible before roughly chopping it) and lightly blanched bean sprouts.
Mung bean noodle sheets are brittle and too large to fit into most bowls. But don’t break them up so they fit: just pour boiling water over them and, with a little time, they’ll be soft and pliable. You can then press them into the bowl so they’re fully submerged. The noodles need only to be soaked; there’s no need to cook them.
