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ZUCCHINI AND SOBA NOODLE SALAD

“This is really good!”, said my 8-year old after his first bite. This dish was unanimously liked by every member of my family. When does that happen? The bold and super tasty flavors are based on an Amy Chaplin recipe from her book, At Home in The Whole Food Kitchen. I adapted this recipe to cook the tons of zucchini piling up in my kitchen from my garden and CSA delivery. I had half a package of soba noodles in my pantry that had been sitting there for a loooong time, but next time, I would eliminate the soba noodles completely making this a super healthy, raw, gluten-free dish. I don’t think the soba noodles would be missed!

I love the concept of raw spiralized zucchini. It’s such an approachable way to get raw zucchini in the diet, while also reducing the amount of simple and refined carbs like traditional pasta. Zucchini is in abundance this time of year and offers a ton of nutritional benefits. In particular, it’s high in fiber and contains a significant amount of flavonoid antioxidants such as zeaxanthin, carotenes and lutein – which all play a protective role in eye health and help prevent common eye issues such as cataracts and macular degeneration (going blind as we get old – yikes). It’s also rich in potassium, which helps moderate blood pressure, promotes bone health, and aids in muscle contraction (not only during exercise, but also think digestion, heart pumping, etc). In fact, zucchini contains more potassium than bananas! Yup, that surprises me too…

I made zucchini noodles with my spiralizer, but if you don’t have one, you can try using a julienne peeler or even a vegetable peeler. It won’t be as fast or as uniformly thin as a spiralizer, but I don’t think it will make a big difference (texture wise) if you’re combining the zucchini with soba noodles. If spiralizing is your thing, you can also spiralize the carrots. Mine were from my CSA bag and a bit thinner and too small to spiralize…But who could resist green and orange noodles? Definitely not my kids.

Zucchini Soba Noodle Salad
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ZUCCHINI & SOBA NOODLE SALAD

Servings 4

Ingredients

  • 4 medium zucchini
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt
  • 1/2 cup dried arame
  • 4 oz soba noodles
  • 5 carrots sliced
  • 1 cup cilantro chopped
  • 1 tsp red chili flakes
  • 1 clove garlic crushed
  • 2 Tbsp tamari
  • 1/4 cup brown rice vinegar
  • 3 Tbsp black sesame seeds
  • 1/4 cup toasted sesame oil
  • 4 large handfuls salad greens

Instructions

  1. Rinse zucchini well. Cut off ends. Using a spiralizer (or julienne peeler), make zucchini noodles. Put zucchini noodles in a fine mesh strainer. Add 1/2 tsp sea salt and toss well. Allow to sit until excess water is drawn out of the zucchini, approximately 15 minutes.
  2. In a small bowl, put dried arame seaweed. Add some warm water and allow to sit for approximately 10-15 minutes.
  3. Cook soba noodles according to package instructions. Drain and set aside.
  4. Make dressing by combining cilantro, red chili flakes, garlic, tamari, brown rice vinegar, sesame seeds and toasted sesame oil.
  5. In a large bowl, put zucchini, cooked soba noodles, carrots and arame seaweed. Add dressing and toss well. To serve, put a large handful of salad greens on each plate. Top with noodles.

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