Yesterday, Mr. Gene left four huge, ripe cucumbers on the kitchen counter for me, fresh from the garden. I like cucumbers, and was glad to get them, but what can I do with four of the things?
Most of the recipes I found online were for salads. These looked good, and I’ll certainly try them out. But I wanted to find more creative ideas.
That’s when I found coodles.
What are coodles, you ask? They are cucumbers spiralized into noodle-like strands. When you do this with zuchinni, they are called zoodles, so when you do it with cucumbers, they are called coodles.
I thought this was at least worth a try, and it actually worked out pretty well. At least Mr. Gene liked it, and he’s always dubious when I try new recipes.
I used the spiralizing attachement for my KitchenAid mixer on the cucumber. I was worried that the cucumber might be too soft for the gripper to keep it in place while spiralizing, but it worked just fine. I did this first, and got a nice pile of coodles plus a pile of seeds. I put them in a colander to drain the moisture, discared the seeds, and them put them between paper towels to dry off.
For the most part, the spiralizer works pretty well. I’ve made poodles (spiralized pears), and I’ve used it to slice apples, pears, cucumbers, and other things into slices. The one attachment that broke almost the first time I used it was the apple pealer, but I’ve got a hand-cranked pealer that works like a charm and makes apple pies easy to fix.
For the main course, I decided to whomp up some sesame chicken. For no other reason than wanting to use the meat grinder attachment for my KitchenAid mixer, I decided to grind two small chicken breasts and three skinless chicken thighs. Easy-peasy, except of course for cleanup. Luckily, everything can go in the dishwasher. There are lots of recipes for sesame chicken online, and I’ve made them often enough I can ad lib them, which is what I did here.
In any case, I found a novel use for one of the cucumbers, and it worked out pretty well. The coodles added a hint fresh cucumber flavor, but they also absorbed the sauce from the chicken. Together, they made an interesting combination, one that I’d be willing to try again even if I didn’t have an over-supply of cucumbers.
Sesame Ground Chicken with Coodles
Equipment
- 1 Spiralizer
- 1 Hand infuser (optional)
Ingredients
Sauce
- 1/3 C soy sauce
- 1/4 C Chicken broth
- 2 TBSP Shaoxing Wine (any white wine will do)
- 2 TBSP Honey (I used Spenda)
- 1 minced garlic clove
- 1 TBSP Corn Starch
- 1 TBSP Water or Chicken Broth
For main Dish
- 1 Cucumber
- 1 lb ground chicken
- 2 Garlic Cloves, minced
- 2 tsp Olive Oil
- 1/2 C diced onion
- 2 Green onions–green part only
- 1/4 C Sesame seeds
- 1 TBSP Sesame oil (I omitted this for a low-calorie version and it tasted fine)
Instructions
- Spiralize the cucumber to make coodles
- Drain cucumber in collandar and discard the seeds. Dry on paper towels for about ten minutes. By the time you're done with the rest of the steps, the coodles should be dry.
- Heat skillet over medium heat. Don't add oil or other ingredients until skillet is hot–about five minutes. While you wait for the pan to heat, mix the sauce.
- Place all sauce ingredients except the corn starch and the last tablespoon of liquid in a small bowl and mix together. You'll add the corn starch tablespoon of liquid later. If you are using sesame oil, you'll need to use a hand-infuser to thoroughly mix the oil and the other ingredients.
- Add olive oil to skillet–it should shimmer if the skillet is hot
- Add onions and stir until softened–three or four minutes
- Add minced garlic to pan. Heat until fragrant–about a minute.
- Add ground chicken to pan. Stir occassionally until cooked, about five minutes
- MIx together 1 TBSP water or chicken broth and 1TBSP corn starch, then add to the sauce and stir. Add the sauce to the skillet with the meat and onions and stir until the sauce thickens and coats the meat–a couple of minutes.
- Separate the coodles into two piles and place each on a dinner plate. Top top with chicken and sauce, then sprinkle with sesame seeds and green onion tips.
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