Whilst eating pasta on Sunday, my cheat day, I came to a very clear conclusion that I much prefer a bowl of zucchini spaghetti over the real stuff. In fact, I’d be more than happy to substitute zucchini for pasta any day!
It can be prepared in a number of ways, but my favourite involves using my spiral vegetable slicer, which spiral cuts any number of vegetables into spaghetti strings. Top with your favourite sauce, some meat balls or make a bowl of this awesome primal ramen!
You’ll almost forget about the real thing!
I’m a big fan of Japanese cuisine and there are few other dishes that can comfort you more than a giant bowl of steamy ramen noodles, with a fragrant broth, adorned with slices of meat or fish and a variety of simple yet flavourful toppings. A real mix of flavours and textures.
This dish Mo and I fashioned on a day we were both craving ramen, and wanted it FAST.
We simply used a few packets of instant miso soup sachets, added water, some zucchini noodles, mushrooms and a piece of fresh oven baked salmon.
This recipe is fast, simple and easy. But you could also make your own broth (which I hear, done the traditional way – is a lot of work). Ideally I would make it myself but I was hungry, our nearest Asian supermarket is too much of a hassle to get to and I wanted my ramen NOW!
However you choose to make it – a hearty, warming bowl of primal ramen – you can’t beat it!
Primal Zucchini Ramen
Makes: 2 servings Takes: 25 minutes
Ingredients:
2 pieces of fresh water salmon fillets
2 tsp liquid aminos/low sodium soy sauce
1 tsp honey
1 Tbsp sesame seeds
2 small/1 large zucchini
1 Bok Choy
6 small chestnut mushrooms
1 bunch of asparagus
1 chilli
2 spring onions/scallions
2 sachets Sanchi gluten free instant miso soup*
1.5litres boiling water
3 tsp tahini
- preheat your oven to 180 C/350 F
- prep your salmon, rinse in cold water and dry. Place into a baking dish, pour on liquid aminos and honey, place in the fridge to marinate
- once oven has heated up, sprinkle with sesame seeds and place in the oven for 20-25mins (depending on the size of your fillet and how rare you like your fish)
- while the salmon is cooking get all your veggies ready.
- using a spiral slicer, make your zucchini noodles. place in a dish until you’re ready for it
- slice your mushrooms, wash your bok choy, and trim your asparagus spears
- pop your kettle on and empty 2 sachets of instant miso soup into a pot. once kettle has boiled pour in, stir and turn on the heat
- stir in 1 tablespoon of tahini and let the broth come to a simmer
- chop your spring onions/scallions and chilli
- when your salmon is about 3 minutes away from being done, throw your mushrooms, bok choy and asparagus into the simmering broth to warm through. You don’t want to over cook them, the freshness and crunch adds to the dish!
- once you have taken your salmon out the oven, split your ‘noodles’ between your ramen bowls, pour over the broth (the residual heat will be enough to cook your ‘noodles’) place the mushrooms, bok choy and asparagus into the bowls, and then place a fillet of salmon on top
- garnish with scallions and chilli
- serve immediately
- eat and enjoy!
* I selected this brand of instant miso soup because its ingredient list seemed the least offensive. The ingredients are labelled as: Original Miso (Gluten Free): Hatcho Miso (made from aged and fermented soya beans, water, sea salt, koji [aspergillus oryzae]), Onions, Spring Onions, Wakame Seaweed. It contains no dried tofu, MSG or any other nasty things I’ve seen on other packages.
As with the real stuff you can prepare your ramen however you like. Using the meat, fish or seafood of your choice and topped off with your favourite seasonal vegetables.
My best advice is to keep it as fresh as possible and don’t over-cook your vegetables. Not only will they lose their lovely crunch and great texture, but you’ll also be killing off all those great nutrients. We like those nutrients!