If you haven't heard of a vegetable spiralizer, then you've almost certainly probably seen food prepared with one somewhere... ...whether in a salad, or in cooked form: Courgettes (aka zucchini) are a common one - so common in spiralized cooked form they even have their own name now, known as 'courgetti' or 'zoodles', as a grain free, low carb, low calorie alternative to traditional spaghetti or noodles. And if you've ever been for sushi, you've quite possibly noticed the pretty spirals of Japanese white radish served alongside slices of sashimi. Many vegetables (and also some fruits) are excellent candidates for being spiralized to add to salads, stir fries, fritattas, soups etc., or to eat in place of pasta and noodles. With thicker cut strands or plain spiral cut, they can also be tossed in a little oil and roasted, to add to or make delicious warm salads, or as side dishes, snacks or garnishes. Spiralizing vegetables can also make them more appealing to those who aren't keen on conventionally served vegetables or salads - including children! Since going (mostly) grain free, two of the foods I’ve really missed are noodles and spaghetti. I didn’t eat them very often as I know how bad, bad, bad they really are especially coming from a family with a strong history of insulin resistance. If you have a tendency towards insulin resistance, pasta = poison for your body. Recently I have discovered the joy of making noodles from vegetables – zucchini (courgette), carrots and leeks are my favourite – with a simple and inexpensive kitchen tool, the mandoline.  The Japanese Turning Slicer or Cooks Help is a nifty little device from Japan that turns vegetables into noodles! The mandoline will quickly slice your chosen veg into noodle sized strips. The downside of the mandoline is that the length of the “noodle” is limited to the length of your vegetable. One night towards the end of my pregnancy while searching the net looking for useless things to buy, I discovered a Japanese device that will actually create long strands of “noodles” from carrot and zucchini. It was a bit of an expensive, impulsive buy at the time but has been worth every cent as I can now eat healthy guilt free “noodles” any time I feel like it. I love to eat them raw with a dressing of rice wine vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, a dash of sesame oil, a teaspoon of manuka honey, a pinch of dulse flakes and finely chopped fresh chilli and mint. Leek ‘noodles’ can be made without any fancy equipment, simply slice the leek lengthwise into fine strips and pan fry or wok fry them as you would regular noodles. How to eat your “noodles”
  I wok fried the vege “noodles” I made for this blog and served them with some biodynamic lamb backstrap. Yum. Comments are closed.
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