Sweet & Sour Thai Carrot & Cucumber Noodle Salad

Cucumbers are abundant in many gardens now. Rita gave me a few and I knew exactly what  I was going to make .


Jenn uses the same spiralizer as I do. The cucumbers are easy to spiralize  but I can not spiralize the carrots. Believe me, I tried. 

For those who do not own a spiralizer, instructions on how to  spiralize without one are HERE.

Most people know that I sub ingredients. I used a plain cucumber, not an English one.  Red pepper for green,  red onion for white. I also did not add the chia seeds.

Another change I made was to make it a little more Asian. To do that I made Crispy Asian Roasted Chickpeas from Thrifty Jinxy. Two good recipes in one post! Recipe for the chickpeas below.

Summer came late to Long Island but now that it's hot this salad is just the right thing to enjoy.

Ingredients:

3 TBSP fresh lemon juice
3 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
2 TBSP white vinegar
⅛ tsp dill (used dried)
⅛ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp fresh minced garlic
2 cups chickpeas (canned or cooked from dry- see directions below for the roasted Asian chickpeas)
¼-1/2 cup fresh chopped cilantro,  extra to garnish
1 large cucumber
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
¼ cup minced red onion
2-3 extra large carrots
2 TBSP honey
2 TBSP rice vinegar
½-1 TBSP sesame seed ( next time I'll toast these)

Directions:

If your lemon was in the refrigerator let it warm up to room temperature. I like to get as much juice out of my lemon as possible so I roll it on the counter a few times. Once the lemon has been rolled cut in half and squeeze out the juice.

Combine the  lemon juice, olive oil, vinegar, garlic powder, dill,  and minced garlic. Whisk until thoroughly combined, set aside .

With  a  spiralizer( see directions above on how to spiralize without a machine )spiralize the cucumber. As mentioned my carrots are not noodles.  I've used the biggest, thickest carrots I had and can not get noodles! I used my peeler and cut them into ribbons .


 In a medium size bowl combine the cucumber ( I cut the cucumber noodles with scissors), minced onion, red pepper and carrots.

Pour the  dressing over the cucumber mixture, mix thoroughly.
Place bowl in refrigerator and allow to marinate. In Jenn's directions she mentioned the longer you marinate the flavor intensifies. I left mine in for about an hour.

When you are ready to serve, mix the honey and rice vinegar in a small bowl and set aside . 

Plate the salad and drizzle with honey/vinegar combination to taste. Sprinkle with sesame seeds, cilantro and add roasted chickpeas.


                                         Crispy Asian Roasted Chickpeas

I love chickpeas and use them often. Roasting is easy and there are so many great flavors including the Buffalo Roasted Chickpeas which are here.

The Asian Roasted Chickpeas are a perfect addition to the salad.

Ingredients:

1 15 ounce can chickpeas
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp low sodium soy sauce
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp ground ginger

Directions:

 Rinse and drain  chickpeas. Place on  paper towels for 30 minutes to dry. 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

 In a small bowl toss chickpeas with olive oil. Add in soy sauce, garlic powder and ginger and stir well. 

Let the chickpeas marinate for 20 minutes.

Spread chickpeas on a baking sheet in a single layer.

Bake 25 minutes, stirring halfway through.

Check for crispness and browning and continue cook  until the chickpeas are crisp and brown.

Featured August 12, 2015 on Nanna's Wisdom

Featured August 12, 2015 on Have a Daily Cup Of Mrs. Olson

Featured August 13, 2015 on My 2 Favorite Things On Thursday

Featured August 17, 2015 on Plucky's Second Thought