Quick Fix: Raw, No Noodle Thai Noodle Salad

There’s so much beautiful fresh produce in Jersey.  I’ve been trying to do at least one purely plant based meal per week.  It was supposed to be meat-free Monday but I can’t seem to stick to the same day every week!  This week, I picked up some beautiful organic courgettes from Jersey Central Market and because the sun is starting to shine again (yaaaay!), I thought I’d do a raw dinner.  This dish is so full of goodness and with its combination of gorgeous fresh herbs, lime, chilli, ginger,  coconut and sesame, I can close my eyes and imagine I’m eating it in a beach hut on Koh Samui!

I use a rather unwieldy plastic device to “sprialise” my courgette into long thing noodles.  If you don’t have one of these, you could just finely slice or even grate your courgette but I definitely recommend buying one.  They’re very cheap (jump on Amazon) and they just add a different dimension to salads and other raw dishes.  Also, whenever I’m trying to avoid wheat/grains, they really do make a satisfying alternative to pasta or potato when served like this.  Probably just an optical illusion but it works!

I did the sauce in the Thermomix but you can just use a blender if you don’t have a thermomix.  It’s a very forgiving recipe so add in or substitute any veggies you like.  This is for 2 large serves or would easily serve 4 as a side dish or starter.

Raw No-Noodle Thai Noodle Salad

Ingredients

For the sauce/dressing

• 1-2 garlic cloves
• 3cm fresh peeled ginger
• 1 green onion chopped in quarters
• handful of coriander stems (we’ll use the leaves later)
• 1 red chilli (I deseeded mine but i’m a wuss)
• 1 tablespoon Tamari
• 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon of almond butter (I make mine in the Thermomix. You could use any nut or seed butter)
• 1 tablespoon Sesame oil
• 200ml coconut cream
• generous pinch of rock or sea salt

For the “Noodles”

• 2 Large Courgettes (spiralised )
• 1 chilli
• 1 Green onion
• large handful of broccoli florets
• 2 small carrots cut in large pieces
• Large handful of coriander leaves
• 100g cashews (or almonds)
• finely sliced green onion, chilli and mint to garnish
• 1/2 lime juiced

Method

1. Place all sauce ingredients (garlic, ginger, green onion, chilli, Tamari, vinegar, almond butter, sesame oil and coconut cream) and blend for 10 seconds, speed 9. scrape down bowl and blend 5 more seconds on speed 9.
2. Add Broccoli, carrot and any other veggies you would like (except for the courgette which we’ll add later).  Red pepper and purple cabbage are lovely in this too.  Chop 3 seconds speed 5.  Check consistency (basically you want reasonably small chunks).  If you’re not using a thermomix you could just grate the broccoli and carrots.
3. Tip the sauce and veggies into a large serving bowl and add your spiralised (or finely sliced) courgette.  mix gently with salad servers to coat the noodles.
4. Top with coriander leaves, cashews, green onion, mint and pour over the lime juice

Enjoy!

PS If you try this and like it (or don’t like it!), I’d love to hear from you, please drop a comment below.  Also I’m hoping to resurrect this blog…it’s been dormant for a while!  I’ll be adding lots of new healthy yummy recipes so feel free to subscribe if you want more like this

xx