Ramen Zoodle Soup

Many college students and young adults live on a diet of ramen noodle soup. The cheap price of a pack of instant noodles and complete lack of skill required to make ramen helped rise it to the ranks of dietary staple for the young and financially challenged. The high-starch, highly processed nature of ramen noodles mean they aren't something you should be eating if you want to make it past your dorm room days to a happy healthy old age.

Fortunately, there is a low carb and even paleo-friendly alternative. You simple use spiral cut zucchini in place of the starchy, white flour noodles. Spiral cut zucchini is gaining popularity as a pasta and noodle alternative and are often called ZOODLES by its many fans. You make the zucchini in to a noodle shape by using either a julienne peeler, a Veggetti tool or a spiral food slicer.

Once you have the "zoodles" made, you need to deep fry them until they are lightly browned and crunchy. After a few minutes on a paper towel to drain off any excess cooking oil, you simply add your ramen-ized zucchini in to a bowl a bone broth or some bullion mix. Zoodles can also be made ahead and frozen to get it near the instant status of traditional ramen noodles.

A medium raw zucchini cut in to zoodles (left) and the result after deep frying.

Ramen Zoodle Soup

• Prepare a medium zucchini (around 196g) into zoodles. Just wash and cut off the ends. No peeling necessary.
• Use a deep fryer and cook the zoodles in lard, peanut oil, avocado oil or palm oil according to manufacturer instructions or at 350-400 degrees. Be very careful that the oil does not foam out over the top of the frier. Zucchini contains a lot of moisture so proceed with caution. Once the zucchini zoodles rise from the bottom of the frier basket and begin to look brown on the edges, use a slotted spoon to turn the mass of zoodles over. Continue frying until golden brown.
• As the zoodles drain, heat 1 1/2 cups of bone broth (you can also add 1 tbsp of organic instant chicken bullion powder to 1 1/2 cups of boiling water if you don't have bone broth available.)
• Add the crispy zoodles to the broth and top with chopped chives or green onions and enjoy.
• For a more substantial soup, add mushrooms, cauliflower, white meat chicken or peas. This recipe is very flexible so don't be afraid to experiment.

NOTE: If you do not have a deep fryer, a cast iron pan with high walls can also be used.