Cucumber Noodles with Chili Watermelon and Shrimp

As I have said before, I am not kitchen savvy at all. I can recreate some Pinterest desserts here and there, but meals are pretty challenging for me. I came across this fabulous vegan recipe at The First Mess blog when looking for some veggie noodle ideas.

It sounded so refreshing and light. I was a little worried it wouldn’t fill up my husband so I added sautéed shrimp (seasoned with lime, salt and pepper) and a 1/2 cup of edamame. The recipe is below with the minor tweaks I made (as you can see I pretty much followed The First Mess to a tee). See here for original. I like to use a spiralizer for making veggie noodles. I love the three-blade Paderno one. You can find it here.

Ingredients: (serves two)

• Watermelon (4 nice hearty slices)
• Arugula (2 handfuls)
• Cucumber either julienned or spiralized (2)
• Shrimp (3/4 1b)
• Basil (4 sprigs- 3 springs chopped save one for garnish)
• Mint (4 sprigs- 3 sprigs chopped save one for garnish )
• Edamame (shelled 1/2 cup)
• Avocado (1/2 diced)
• Pumpkin seeds (1/4 cup)
• Chipotle chili (ground 2 tsp)
• Extra virgin olive oil (2 tsp divided – one for noodles and one for shrimp sauté)
• Limes (3…two for salad and one for shrimp sauté)
• Himalayan salt and ground pepper
• Tiny squeeze of agave nectar (optional)

Instructions:

1. Place two watermelon on each dish and sprinkle with the juice of a lime, salt and half of the chipotle chili.
2. In a bowl, toss the cucumber noodles with 1tsp of evoo, juice of another lime, the rest of the chipotle chili, agave, arugula basil, mint, edamame, avocado, pumpkin seeds and salt (taste).
3. Sauté your shrimp with 1 tsp of evoo and salt and pepper to taste. Squeeze lime when the water in pan dissipates.
4. Add noodles, shrimp and garnish to your watermelon plates. Bon appetit!

 

This salad is exploding with flavor and I loved the crunchy texture of cucumber noodles! It was like a spicy mojito on a plate (except without the alcohol and with shrimp instead. So not really like it but kind of). I see this being my go-to all summer long. It was so filling too!

Enjoy!
With love,

Shahla