Or, they taste delicious and are lots of fun, but do we have to call them swoodles?
My sister gave me a spiralizer gadget recently, and I have been having lots of fun churning out various vegetal noodles. This twirly veg has taken the blogosphere by storm in the last few years, and I’m a bit late to the party. But better late than never, as they say, and I’m here now. I will say, for those who don’t have this kind of specialty device but want to sample veggie noodles, that you can achieve similar results with either: (a) a veggie peeler, which most of us have, or (b) very fine knife skills (for straight strips of noodle). I do not have the latter, but have had some previous fun with the former. (Which works especially well with zucchini/courgettes.)
For those interested in acquiring a spiralizer, this is the one I have, and I’m very happy with it. (Thanks, sis!)
Bouncy veggie curls!
Sweet potato noodles are different in texture from both other veggie noodles and from other kinds of sweet potato. I am used to baked sweet potatoes, which soften completely into a kind of fudgy density. In this case, the noodles do soften, but you should expect them to keep a bit of crunch (even after being re-heated in the microwave as leftovers), which I found surprisingly pleasing.
As I said, the noodles do soften in the pan, and as you toss them about, you can both see and feel the moment when they relax and are ready for sauce and dressing. Taste them and see: if you don’t like the crunch or think they are too crunchy, just cook them a bit longer and see how it goes. This, like many warm salads, is a pretty forgiving kind of recipe.
- 2 medium sweet potatoes, spiralized or processed into noodle-like strands
- 1 bag of greens, like spinach or arugula
- 1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed
- 2-3 oz goat's cheese
- ⅓ cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1-2 tablespoons chili paste or hot sauce
- 1 clove of garlic, peeled
- juice of 1 orange
- First, make the dressing. Put the oil, water, chili paste, garlic, orange juice, and a good pinch of salt and pepper in a blender or food processor (I used my immersion blender) and process until smooth.
- Heat a teaspoon of oil in a medium skillet and heat over medium high heat. Add the sweet potato noodles and toss (I used tongs for this) until the noodles relax and start to soften. This took about 5 minutes for me. Taste the noodles as you go until you achieve your desired texture.
- Add the beans and greens to the skillet and toss to combine until the greens are wilted.
- Add the dressing and toss for a further minute or so until everything is coated.
- Crumble half of the cheese over the warm salad, season with salt and pepper, and toss to distribute.
- Either crumble the remaining cheese on top or serve on the side for people to add themselves.