Zoodles and Kumara Spaghetti with Miso Cashew Cream
Zoodles are almost a staple in my household. It is a great pastime too as the kids can help with creating the zoodles by turning the crank handle on the spiraliser. It is always a joy when my 2 year old thinks its hilarious and points and giggles at a kitchen gadget turning out spirals of vegetables.
In this recipe I decided to mix it up a little by spiralising an orange kumara too. Orange kumara is similar to what is known as sweet potato in North America. After trying frozen sweet potato chips and comparing the taste to frozen kumara chips I have deduced they are similar but not the same vegetable. However, they have a similar texture, so orange sweet potato can be used. Red or yellow kumara could also be used in place of orange kumara but is softer when cooked so needs to be cooked for less time to maintain a good noodle or spaghetti like texture. In this recipe, once the pan has reached a medium high heat, I would just add everything except the parsley into the pan.
My partner was surprised how filling this recipe was and and it Can taste a little bit too rich after a few bowls – so consider yourselves warned. My partner’s astonishment was because it was not what he had come to expect when eating vegan meals. The reason for the richness is the cashew creams, like most nuts, cashew nuts have natural oil which coats the mouth to give a rich and tasty mouthfeel. I particularly like making cashew cream because the cashew nuts are subtly sweet as well.
What if I forgot to Soak any Cashew nuts?
This recipe is reasonably simple and is quick to put together. The only real setback you can have is if you forget to soak the cashew nuts. Even then, you can soak them in hot water, rinse and re-add water before blending with garlic and miso paste. Alternatively, if you have a really good (usually commercial) blender with a strong motor, you could try just blending the cashew cream together without pre-soaking the cashew nuts.
Someone has asked me in the past whether you can substitute other nuts for the cashew nuts. I personally have not tried this, but I would expect almonds to be a palatable substitution.
Which spiraliser to use
The type of spiraliser we use is a Westmark Spiromat.
It comes with three(3) different style blades which are easily exchangeable. It has 4 suction feet to set the gadget on a clean smooth bench or table top and I find it neat that it has little nipples that you pull to release the suction and move the spiraliser. It can be used to make curly fries or ribbon vegetables as well, but I mainly use mine to make vegetables into noodles. Typical vegetables that I like to spiralise in this way are: zucchini (or courgette), kumara (or sweet potato), carrots and beetroot. It would easily do potato or any other root vegetable.
One of the things I dislike about the spiraliser I use is that it spiralises the vegetable around a central core and leaves a stub at the end where the blade would contact the spikes on the crank handle holding the vegetable in place. This means that after each vegetable is spiralised, there is always a core and a stub that needs to be cut up by hand. Yes, this does not detract from the fact that the spiraliser, creates vegetable noodle and spaghetti a lot faster than if I were to hand cut them, but it is annoying. I’m not a fan of wasting food so I could not just throw away a perfectly fine piece of vegetable. Of course, there are many different types of and different manufacturers of spiralisers. As long as the gadget will spiralise your vegetables, it can be used to make this recipe.
MIso Is delicious but I have no Miso...
I used white miso in this recipe, but any miso paste, red, white, yellow will be fine. If you do not have any miso, can not purchase it where you are, do not like miso, or whatever reason you may have, there are a couple of good substitutes. The first is soy sauce, I found this out through my 4 year old when he first tried zoodles, it was pretty plain so he asked for sauce, I gave him a bottle of soy sauce, he added a few sqigs before mixing it through. He then promptly ate the rest of his dinner and asked for a second helping. There were no leftovers that night! The secound option is coconut aminos, which would suit glutenfree diets and people with intolerance, allergy or just avoiding soy in their diets.
Spinach alternatives and options
I used chopped baby spinach in this recipe but standard spinach is fine; you will just need to mare sure you shop it up nice and fine. If you have frozen spinach(whole leaf or chopped), it is fine to use a similar weight. A similar weight of kale or silverbeet (swiss chard) are good substitutes, just make sure you are happy to finely chop it all up. For the silverbeet, remove and leave out the string stem or centre of the silverbeet leaves and chop up the rest of the leaves. Basically any leafy green can be substituted for the spinach, although it is probably best to pick a vegetable or leafy green that you actually like eating!
Zoodles and Kumara Spaghetti with Miso Cashew Cream
SERVES 4
1 zuchinni
1 orange kumara
1 cup cashew nuts
3/4 cup water
300g chopped spinach
1 tablespoon flat leaf parsley, chopped
1 tablespoon miso paste
2 cloves garlic
olive oil
Soak cashews in water and leave for 3 hours.
After 3 hours blend cashew nuts, with garlic and miso paste using a handheld stick blender.
Spiralise the zuchinni and kumara.
Place a large frypan or wok on medium high heat.
Coat with olive oil.
Add the spiralized kumara to the pan; stirfry until softened.
Add the spiralized zuchinni, spinach and cashew cream to the pan.
Toss well to combine.
Stirfry until the zoodles start to softened.
Serve with a sprinkling of chopped flat leaf parsley.
I must now buy a spiraliser. I love this receipe, very healthy and must try for grandchildren. Thank you.
Glad you enjoyed the recipe Ngaire. My boys love this recipe. Thanks for visiting my new website too :).
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Glad you enjoyed my blog. Hope you will drop by again soon. I try to post twice a week!