Jaden HATES vegetables. Long gone are the days he used to beg for broccoli and spinach. Some days I find myself resorting to bribery to get him to eat a single kernel of corn. Last night I found myself saying: “Eat ONE piece of corn. No? Fine. Just TASTE it and I’ll give you a chocolate covered pretzel for dessert.” Not my finest parenting moment but I was frustrated and desperate. Thinking of what to cook for the kiddos [and then preparing it] has become SO stressful. It’s always hit or miss these days. Luckily, tonight’s dinner was a huge hit. I made soba noodles with shredded vegetables and to my amazement both my picky kids gobbled it up. Jaden absolutely hates carrots. He frequently says “I will never not EVER eat a carrot” so I didn’t expect him to eat it in a shredded form but he did. Score! Okay, so he didn’t eat all of it but he ate some and that’s more than I can ask for right now. Who knew shredding veggies would make them more appealing?
Ingredients:
1 raw carrot, peeled
1 raw zucchini
2 green onions, finely chopped
1/4 of picked radish (takuan)
2 eggs
2 bundles of soba noodles (buckwheat noodles)
soba dipping sauce (tsuyu)
dried seaweed (nori) – optional
Directions:
1. Cook soba noodles according to package directions. (I cooked mine in boiling water for 5 mins).
2. Beat eggs in a bowl and cook in a pan like you would an omelet and then cut into thin strips.
3. Shred the carrot and zucchini and then grate the pickled radish. Set aside.
4. Pour soba dipping sauce into a small bowl and add some chopped green onions. Put cooked soba noodles into a separate bowl and add the shredded carrots and zucchini, strips of egg, and grated radish.
5. Cut the dried seaweed (nori) with scissors into thin strips and use it as garnish on top.
Super simple recipe and you can really add any type of vegetable. I only had carrots and zucchini in my refrigerator so that’s all I used but shredded beets, squash, or cucumber would go great with soba noodles. You could also add shredded chicken or pork. The possibilities are endless. I also ran out of dried seaweed (nori) so it’s not pictured but my kids love dried seaweed.
I used store bought soba dipping sauce (tsuyu) from a local Korean market. But you can also make your own. Here’s a good recipe I found online: sauce recipe.
Did I serve it like this to my picky three year old toddler? NO. He doesn’t like his food touching each other so each ingredient went into separate compartments like this:
Toddlers also love dipping their food so I think that probably encouraged my son to actually eat it. I also let him help me prepare some of it and he’s always more willing to TRY things if he’s a part of the cooking process. This recipe is a definite keeper in our household.
Happy dipping!