Asian Salmon Noodle Salad

I made this awesome salad for the first time this evening.  I had some left over spaghetti noodles tucked away in the back of the fridge that needed to be eaten and remembered a neighbor of mine once serving me a salad with spaghetti noodles and...what?  I couldn't remember anything else in the salad.  All I remembered was that it was good.  I found a recipe on Recipezar, tweaked it some and, ladies and gentleman....we have a winner!

Asian Salmon Noodle Salad
8 oz spaghetti, broken in half   (or spaghetti left over from another meal)
1T. fresh gingerroot, grated
4 t. sesame oil  (I didn't have any so I used grapeseed oil)
3 T reduced sodium soy sauce (I used the full sodium version)
1/4 c. seasoned rice wine vinegar (Didn't have any of this either so I used cider vinegar)
2T sugar
1/4 t. cayenne pepper  (I used about 1/2 t hot chili oil from the Chinese food section)
1 c. shredded carrots
10 oz salmon, grilled (I used some salmon I had canned last year, browned briefly in coconut oil)
1 c. cucumber, julienned (I used 1 c. bell pepper---the cucumber had been eaten)
2 T cilantro, chopped, more or less, or leave it out altogether.  (I used more)
1 T sesame seeds, toasted


Cook and drain spaghetti.
Mix together ginger, oil, soy sauce, vinegar, sugar and cayenne.
Toss everything else together in bowl and pour on the dressing.
Done.  Easy-peasy and soooooo good.

If you're vegetarian, just leave out the salmon and put in some tofu or maybe cashews.  As you can see, I'm certainly not a slave to a recipe.