Low carb courgette noodle ginger pow

From a buttery, guilt ridden deeelish dish last week to a simple, humble and healthy one today. Oh I just love the ridiculous expectations I set myself each year. Which now lends itself to eating out less (sob sob) to save for a wedding, and training my body not to be so dependent on rice and noodles (no one wants a tubby bride...sob sob). To be able to do a diet and save money without giving in to expensive diet plans, fancy juice cleanse fads and lowcalorie this and that is an arse. All you need is a bit of forward planning, a Pinterest board for good healthy recipes to inspire you and you're on your way. 

Noodles are my life line. A week doesn't go by without me eating them and the variety of different ones from around Asian cuisines is limitless. Udon, soba, ramen, egg noodle, prawn shell noodles...the scene in Charlie and the Chocolate factory where Willy Wonka opens the gates to a field of sweets and a chocolate waterfall doesn't do it for me. Replace the chocolate waterfall with a 16 hour ramen broth and the grass as noodles of every variety... Now that's the dream. 

But alas, low carbs means finding a substitute and by golly does this one fill the gap. I was given a fancy shredder type veggie peeler, which you normally use for spring onions so it made making courgette/zucchini noodles a simple task. If you don't have this, then a simple peeler will do (make ribbons and cut them to smaller pieces) or even a box grater works also. None of this spiralizer malarkey, but take the care in making these look like noodles and you might even trick yourself into believing it. 

The broth is a quick and easy one to make too. Simple, clean and packed with flavour - the ginger and the chilli will keep your tummy happy and keep the January colds away. Detox starts here. 

Ingredients (serves one) 

1 courgette 

500ml water 

1 tbs minced/finely diced ginger 

2 spring onions (diced into rounds)

1 tbs dark soy 

1 1/2 tbs chicken powder (or replace this and the water with homemade stock) 

1 chicken breast 

1 chilli 

Fried shallots for garnish 

In a saucepan, heat up a teaspoon of oil and fry the ginger and half of the spring onions until fragrant (about 1 minute). Then add your water, chicken powder, soy and chilli and bring to the boil. 

Slice your chicken breast into bit sized pieces and add to the pan. Once the stock is boiling, switch the heat off, add the rest of the spring onions and leave the chicken to poach and slowly cook off the heat with a lid firmly on. Leave for 5 minutes. Whilst this is going on, prepare your noodles. You can of course put real noodles cooked into the pan, but as it's January try this. Grate, peel or chop your courgette into lengths. If you have a vegetable peeler with a serrated edge that separates out into strands, you're winning. If not, use the peeler to make ribbons (peel from the top to bottom of the courgette) and then cut finely into strips. 

Once you've done this add to the pan on top of the chicken. Keep the lid on for another five minutes and the residual heat will cook the noodles. Turn the heat back on to warm through the broth and serve up in a bowl with some crunchy fried shallots on top and dig in.