Asian Zucchini Noodle Salad

I was watching The Food Network & The Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond was on. She was doing an episode of Lighter Versions of some recipes. This one caught my eye… Lighter Asian Noodle Salad

This recipe has zucchini noodles in it…if you do not have a spiralizer you could thinly slice the zucchini or grate it…. or leave it out for that matter if you want. You can pick up a small hand spiralizer at many stores.. Bed Bath & Beyond has them. Just be careful  when you get to the end of the vegetable that you are using to stop & not grate your fingers! I learned that from experience! Or… you can buy vegetables already made into noodles in grocery stores… I would do that if I did not have the tool to do it at home

There is a hint that I recently read about…to salt the zucchini, kind of like eggplant… you sprinkle the spiralized zucchini with salt, mix it around & let it sit in a colander over a bowl. Moisture is released from the zucchini & the food you are using this for is not watery. Next time I make this salad I will do that. When this salad sits in the fridge for a couple of days, it is watery so just use a slotted spoon to serve it! Still tastes great!

Here is the recipe

Inspired by Ree Drummond (I changed a couple things in the recipe so I wrote the recipe as I made it here… the original one can be found on The Food Network)

Ingredients 

For the Dressing …which would be good on a regular salad as well

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 tbsp grated ginger *** I use the pre-grated  ginger in a jar..it is available in tubes as well

2 tbsp honey

1-2  cloves of garlic, minced

1 lime, juiced

A splash of hot sauce… I used Sriracha sauce

For the Salad

4 small zucchini.. or 2 medium size ones… or 1 large one!

1 cup of cashews, I used unsalted cashews

2 cups of grated carrots

2 mini cucumbers

2 bell peppers, you can use any colour you like , red, yellow or orange

1/2 small red cabbage

1/2 cup basil, chopped

1/2 cup mint, chopped *** Murray did not like the mint so I will leave it out next time..if you do not like mint, or do not have it, leave it out

Toasted Sesame Seeds for garnish

 

Method

1. Make the salad dressing & set it aside…I put all of the ingredients into a jar & gave it a good shake!
2. Prepare the zucchini…thinly spiralize it, then I would lightly salt it, toss the zucchini with the salt, put it into a colander over a bowl & let it sit while you prepare the rest of your vegetables. *** When you spiralize the zucchini, I always break up the zucchini noodles so that are not too long to eat
3. Toast the cashews in a skillet & then set them aside to cool
4. Grate the carrots & put them in a large bowl…you can grate them in a food processor or use a box grater & grate the carrots right into the bowl..the recipe calls for about 2 cups of grated carrots, so if your carrots are small you will need more & if they are big you might need less..
5. Cut the cucumbers in half & slice them thinly, add these to the grated carrots
6. Thinly slice the peppers, I cut the slices in half so the pieces were more ‘bite-sized’ Add the sliced peppers to the bowl with the other vegetables
7. Thinly slice the red cabbage & add to the bowl
8. Now add the zucchini to the vegetables.
9. Add the toasted cashews, I chopped them up a bit, but this is personal taste so have the nuts any way you like them, whole, halved, or chopped
10. Toss the vegetables together gently to combine the ingredient
11. Pour the salad dressing over the vegetables & toss to combine
12. You can garnish the salad with fresh basil leaves & /or mint leaves if you like
13. I garnished my salad with sesame seeds

Enjoy!