4 HERB & SUMAC AVO ZOODLES

Everyone loves zoodles nowadays. I mean, no matter if you’re watching your carb intake, looking for noodle alternatives due to a gluten intolerance or just simply love to eat veggies in all shapes and forms, vegetable noodles are a delicious and simple way to meet any wish or desire! You can make noodles from all sorts of veggies like carrots, pumpkins, sweet potatoes, squash … the list goes on … but I guess zucchini noodles aka zoodles should be called the godmother of veggie noodles. I buy my zucchinis organic and they are inexpensive and can be found in every grocery store throughout the entire year. Why organic? Well, even a good wash won’t get rid of all the yucky pesticides that are loaded on fruits and vegetables and especially if you’re using the skin, you really want to go organic. Due to my sensitive stomach {thanks heavens for IBD … said no one ever ;)} I really have to be careful with eating “contaminated” foods that could trigger a flare up. Alright, enough rambling about that.

The only thing you will need to make zoodles and pretty much all other veggie noodles, is a good vegetable spiral slicer like this one. It’s inexpensive, easy to clean and small enough to store in a drawer.

Now before I start on the zoodle part, I will talk about the sauce. Since I basically always have avocados at home because I’m totally addicted to them, why not make a creamy avo sauce to go with my zoodles?! It’s so super easy and delicious of course too. All you have to do is throw 1-2 ripe avocados in a blender along with some herbs, spices, lemon and olive oil and whirl away! I love herbs, so I used four different ones: flat leaf parsley, cilantro, mint and fabulous lemon basil. If you can’t find lemon basil, use thai basil or just regular sweet basil. Then zest one organic lemon, add that and squeeze some of the juice into it as well {not too much because we will add sumac as well and that’s tangy too}. Then add the smokey and lemony spices: ground cumin, ground coriander and sumac.

What in the world is sumac, you’re thinking?! Well, it’s one of my all time favorite spices because it has such a unique, tangy and lemony flavor. Plus Persians use it on grilled meats, so I basically grew up on eating loooot’s of sumac with my “chelo kabab” :) But this beautiful spice, which is made from the berries of a small tree or bush native to Sicily, Turkey and Iran, has finally made its way to the western cuisine. The berries are dried and ground and like I said, it's mainly used for meat dishes like it is in Iran. But since the flavor is very lemony and tangy, it complements so many other dishes as well. Now just add salt, pepper and olive oil and my secret ingredient to make the sauce super creamy: some soaked cashews. Give everything a nice whirl in the blender and set it aside while getting the zoodles ready. Now all you have to do is run the zucchinis through your spiral slicer and drop them in boiling and salted water for about one minute. You just want the zoodles to be lightly blanched otherwise they will turn mushy and yucky on you. Then just drain them and throw them in an ice bath for a few seconds so that they will stay nice and green. Make sure you drain all the water before tossing them with the creamy avo sauce. Sprinkle some nutty hemp hearts on top and you can dig in!

The flavors are so fresh and gorgeous. Lemony, smokey, creamy and nutty all at the same time!

MMMH YUM!

You will have some leftover sauce, if you just make this for two, which is great because you can use it as a spread on toasted bread for the next couple of days. Totally ok with me, what do you think?!

INGREDIENTS {serves 2}

4 medium sized organic zucchinis

1 1|2 – 2 ripe avocados

A small bunch of each:

Parsley

Mint

Coriander {cilantro}

Lemon basil {thai or sweet basil}

Zest of one organic lemon plus a bit of the juice

1 1|2 – 2 Tsp ground cumin

1 Tsp ground coriander

1 Tsp ground sumac

1|2 Tsp salt

1|2 Tsp black pepper

1 1|2 Tbsp olive oil

1 handful cashews {soaked overnight or quick soaked with boiling water for 1 hour}

Hemp hearts {to sprinkle on the zoodles at the end}

DIRECTIONS

1| Take the avocados out of their skins and put them in a blender along with the herbs {rip them apart a bit with your hands}, spices, lemon zest and juice, salt and pepper, olive oil and the soaked cashews. Give it a good whirl until you have a thick and creamy sauce. Set aside.

2| In a large pot bring water to a boil and salt it like pasta water. Wash the zucchinis and cut off the ends. Run them threw a spiral slicer and toss them into the boiling water for one minute.

3| While that is happening, put some ice cubes and cold water into a large bowl. Drain the zoodles after one minute and immediately toss them into the ice water for a few seconds. Put them back into the colander and drain the rest of the water.

4| Put the zoodles into a bowl, add some of the creamy avo sauce to it and toss well. Put a good amount on each plate and sprinkle with some nutty hemp hearts.

5| Dig in with some crunchy bread.

TIP

Put the leftover sauce into an airtight container and store in the fridge for a couple of days. Or you can also make this for 3-4 servings.

MMMH ENJOY MY LOVELY FRIENDS ♡