You may have noticed the copious amounts of vegetable noodles I have been eating lately. It is slowly turning into an obsession.
Most of the time, I use the spiralizer to make vegetable noodles, but there are other great kitchen tools for making them, too!
Meet the julienne peeler! They look like a regular vegetable peeler with tiny blades sticking out of one side, and you can usually find them for $4 to $20 dollars. I own the Kuhn Rikon Julienne Peeler (about $19), and I love that the sharpness of the peeler’s blades make it easy to cut vegetables. I might be a bit of a nerd for doing this, but I kept the plastic packaging cap for storing the peeler. I don’t want my fingers to touch the blades accidentally when I’m reaching into my kitchen drawer!
When using the julienne peeler, I like to lay the vegetable flat on a cutting board and hold down one end of the vegetable. Then, I run the peeler along one side to create noodles. After slicing through the vegetable a few times, I usually turn the vegetable around to make sure that the vegetable is peeled evenly.
At some point, you will have whittled down the vegetable so much that it becomes difficult to run the peeler along it. I usually chop up the core and cook the pieces along with the rest of the dish. Waste not!
This time, I decided to combine carrot, zucchini, and summer squash noodles together for some variety. Lay a bed of vegetable noodles inside a bowl, pour some soup on top, and presto! You’ll have one delectable vegetable dish!
Red Curry Stew and Vegetable Noodles
Ingredients
- 2 large carrots, peeled
- 1 medium yellow squash
- 2 medium zucchini
- 1 14-ounce package of firm tofu
- 1 1/2 TBS olive oil
- 1/3 large red onion, chopped
- 1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and sliced
- 3 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed
- 5 tsp red curry paste
- 1 large potato (~11 oz/~310g), peeled and diced
- 4 cups (948ml) vegetable stock
- 1 cup (237ml) light coconut milk
- 1/2 head cabbage, chopped
- 2 TBS fish sauce
- 2 TBS lime juice
- 1 1/2 TBS sea salt
- 8 large basil leaves, chopped
- Black sesame seeds, optional
Instructions
- Make vegetable noodles with the carrots, yellow squash, and zucchini with a julienne pepper. Place all the noodles into a medium-sized bowl, and mix them together. Set aside. Chop up the parts of the vegetable that were not cut by the julienne peeler. Save it for the stew.
- Drain the water from the tofu package and rinse the tofu. Chop the tofu into smaller cubes, and set aside.
- Heat the olive oil in a medium-sized pot over medium-high heat. Once the pot is heated, pour in the diced onions and ginger. Sauté them for about 2 minutes, or until the onions turn translucent. Next, add the minced garlic, curry paste, diced potatoes, chopped carrots, and stir everything together.
- Add the vegetable stock and cover the pot with a lid. Once the stock starts boiling, add the coconut milk, cabbage, and leftover chopped summer squash, stir, and wait for the water to start boiling again. Once the stew boils, season with fish sauce, lime juice, and sea salt. Check to see if the potatoes are fully cooked by piercing a fork into a piece of potato. If the fork can go through it easily, they’re ready.
- Turn off the heat, and add the chopped basil. You can also save some for garnish.
- In a bowl, put about 1 to 1-1/2 cups of the vegetable noodles on the bottom, and pour the stew on top. Sprinkle black sesame seeds for garnish.
- Refrigerate leftover noodles in a separate container from the stew.
Notes
Wondering what you can do with leftover coconut milk? Try these easy tropical ice pops!
Welcome to Mommyhood says
Looks absolutely delicious 😉 I love all of the colors you’ve incorporated in this dish – I could eat it with my eyes haha
Lisa says
Thanks, Yuliya!
genevieve @ gratitude & greens says
This is such a vibrant dish, I love all the colours and flavours! I wish I had a spiralizer or a julienne peeler. I’ve been using a regular vegetable peeler to make veggie noodles, which does the trick!
Lisa says
Yes! I love using the vegetable peeler, too! I’ll have to create a recipe making vegetable ribbons next time.
Joanne says
The.boy and I are registering for a spiralizer, but until my bridal shower, I must remember to use my julienne peeler! This noodle bowl looks fabulous. Full of my favorite red curry spices and some of my favorite veggie noodles!
Lisa says
Thanks, Joanne! I felt that my julienne peeler needed a little bit more love this weekend. Also, I love that the spiralizer is on your registry. If I had it my way, mine would be nothing but kitchen tools!
Pavithra says
Hi Lisa,
Can’t wait to try this! What brand of fish sauce and red curry paste wold you recommend?
Thanks
Lisa Lin says
Hi, Pavithra! I usually use Thai Kitchen’s red curry paste and Red Boat’s fish sauce.