Sunday, January 13, 2013

Not ramen

Yesterday was not a good day at the saltycrunchy house. Daughter H recovering from the flu (we think), husband P suffering from some horrible but probably non-flu-related malady, son C and I feeling a bit off ourselves and trying not to breathe too deeply for fear of catching everyone else's germs.

It was a ramen kind of day, is what I'm saying.

I was BIG into ramen back when I was eating grain. I'd buy the kind you cook on the stovetop, throw away the seasoning packet, and doctor up the plain noodles with all sorts of stuff. What to do now that I'm eating primal?

Well, here's what I did.


Primal Not Ramen

1 small knob fresh ginger
1 clove garlic
1 medium carrot
1 small zucchini (or 1/4 - 1/2 of a larger one)
1/4 cup shredded cooked chicken
a few dashes coconut aminos
1 cup (8 oz.) chicken broth (I used Pacific organic but homemade would be better)
2 Tbs. fresh cilantro (just rip it off the stem)
one small wedge of lime
a drizzle of sriracha

Mince or grate (using a microplane) a bit of ginger and garlic into a big soup bowl. Peel carrot and zucchini with a vegetable peeler, then keep on peeling long ribbons from each one and put them in the bowl. These are your "noodles". Add chicken, then sprinkle on some coconut aminos (to substitute for soy sauce). Heat broth to a full boil either on stovetop or in microwave (just be very careful with the latter). Pour broth over vegetables and seasonings in bowl. Dunk all the veggies and meat under the broth and let them steep/cook for a minute or two. Top with fresh cilantro, a squeeze of lime and as much sriracha as your guts can handle.

***

I ate this with chopsticks and it was every bit as slurpy and delicious as ramen used to be. I didn't miss the grain noodles at all, I swear! You could easily go a step further and make this vegan by omitting the meat and using vegetable broth. And of course you could add all kinds of other veggies and seasonings and whatnot -- green onions, mushrooms, baby spinach, jalapenos, sesame seeds, etc.

I'm feeling a lot better today, so I'm going to go ahead and say this soup cures everything. But I'm not a doctor, so ... don't quote me.

4 comments:

  1. Looks delicious! Now I'm off to find out what coconut aminos are. I have obviously lived for too long away from the States!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You could easily substitute soy sauce or wheat-free tamari for the coconut aminos, provided you eat soy. I am all about the coconut right now so if it can be derived from coconut in any way whatsoever, I'm going to eat it!

      Delete
  2. I am so glad you're doing this! I have decided that probably ALL grains and I need to part ways, and ... here you are.
    MsCellania

    ReplyDelete