Garlic Mushroom Daikon Noodles, a Nom Nom Paleo Wonder

Years ago at a sustainability food conference, people working a table of spiralized vegetable dishes beckoned me over for a taste. While the colors of their spiralized raw noodle dishes were handsome, their flavors were lacking. I was not interested in the gadget or that kind of healthy cooking. It wasn't until a week ago that I considered spiralizing. Call me a latecomer to the spiralizer party but I changed my mind because of one person -- Michelle Tam of Nom Nom Paleo fame.

Michelle and her husband Henry Fong just released their third cookbook, Nom Nom Paleo Let's Go!, and I do think it's their best one yet. The densely packed Paleo, Keto, and Whole30-friendly volume has a lot of recipes that touch on Michelle and Henry's Asian heritage. How would and could they revamp popular Asian dishes to meet the flavor and texture demands of favorites?

Nom Nom Paleo Let's Go! includes a number of spice blend recipes. They generously gifted me their book along with the spice blends to try. Of the four, the Asian stir-fry blend piqued my interest most. It includes shiitake mushroom, onion, and garlic -- all glutamate bombs. Looking to test drive the spice blend, I ended up checking out their Garlic Mushroom Noodles, which was inspired by the cultish garlic noodles (mì xào tỏi) by Thanh Long, a Vietnamese restaurant in San Francisco; Michelle and Henry lived near the restaurant and enjoyed the noodles there. I decided to give the recipe a whirl and learned a lot.

Garlic Noodles by Thanh Long

If you're unfamiliar with beloved Asian garlic noodles, the dish featured Chinese-style egg noodles, so much garlic that your clothes smelled of it after dining at Thanh Long, lots of butter, plus umami-ish seasonings that some speculated include MSG and/or oyster sauce. The An family of Thanh Long and its Crustacean sister restaurants has never released the recipe and keeps it a secret. Garlic noodles are thing from the Bay Area that has been duplicated at many restaurants, whether they are a pop-up or brick-and-mortar operation, Vietnamese and or not. Mì xào tỏi's popularity inspired the umami garlic noodles with shiitake recipe on page 194 of my cookbook, Vietnamese Food Any Day. I thought it was a sleeper but the New York Times's Melissa Clark picked up on it.

Garlic noodles can be a gut bomb and Michelle came up with a low-carb, healthy version. I had to try it out, especially because it was totally vegetable centric. What can be done with vegetables to mimic the experience of a splurge-y dish like Thanh Long's garlic noodles?

Nom Nom Paleo's Umami Building Blocks

If you have a copy of Vietnamese Food Any Day, you'll note that my recipe for garlic noodles is tricked out with umami from a variety of sources -- garlic, oyster sauce, fish sauce, MSG (or chicken stock base or nutritional yeast), salted butter and fresh shiitake. To mimic those flavors for a Paleo, Whole30, and Keto-friendly rendition, Michelle smartly reached into her arsenal for coconut aminos (a low-sodium, slightly sweet and tangy soy sauce substitute), nutritional yeast (golden vegan flakes that offer mild Parmesan flavor), lots of shiitake, and her umami stir-fry powder blend of spices, salt, and mushroom. (I included her spice blend recipe in the recipe notes below, though you may conveniently purchase the blend along with her other blends from The Spice Lab.)

The first time I made the Paleo/Keto/Whole30 garlic mushroom noodles, I used cremini mushroom and the outcome was alright. However, I used a totally neutral oil and found the noodles to be a bit bland. The second time I employed extra virgin olive oil, which lent the dish greater dimension; use avocado oil, if you like but it has a milder flavor. By the second run through the dish was terrific. I followed Michelle's recipe and added a turmeric touch to brighten up the color, which tilts toward beige.

Spiralized Daikon Noodles: A low-carb friend

Back to the noodles themselves. I wasn't about to substitute for the noodles since they were the main ingredient. Plus I was super curious about how daikon would turn out to be noodle like. I dove in by purchasing an OXO spiralizer after reading that it had good suction power to hold it steady on your counter. When cut into certain shapes, vegetables express their textures in ways that we don't usually expect. With regard to the daikon noodles, if they are cooked to al dente firm-crisp-tender, they cool into strands that stay intact. I overcooked one of my first batches and the noodles softened too much and fell apart. But on the second time around, the daikon took on a noodle-like look. They don't have the springy feel of starchy noodles, but they were alright. If you're cutting down or cutting out carbohydrates, daikon noodles are a good option.

After par-cooking the noodles, the dish came together quickly and we ferociously ate them up. My husband said, "These aren't exactly noodles but if I didn't want to eat actual noodles, the daikon works." We're not people to adhere to strict diets but he had wondered about what Paleo, Keto and Whole30 food tasted like. Michelle's garlic and mushroom daikon noodles were terrific.

Daikon radish shopping tip: Choose daikon with relatively smooth skin -- a sign that they have not struggled and were well cultivated. Ideally, the daikon feels as smooth as a baby's bottom! It may be cut into sections or sold whole. Daikon keeps for a week or two in the fridge.

Garlic Mushroom Noodle Pairings and Tweaks

I put a fried egg on each serving and the entire dish was a satisfying, light lunch for us. Leftovers were good the next day, too. At Vietnamese restaurants and elsewhere, garlic noodles are often served with Dungeness crab drenched in garlic butter. Or, with shrimp, which is easier. After cooking the noodles, cook off some extra large shrimp in the hot pan with olive oil, salt and pepper. A few years ago, I made Michelle's fried cracklin' chicken, which is super simple and would make a delicious, fun addition to the noodles.

One caveat: eating a lot of daikon can be a bit gassy. You could cook pencil-thin asparagus along with the mushroom and bulk up the recipe to serve 6 people; that would keep the dish in the Paleo, Keto, and Whole30 sphere but reduce each person's daikon consumption. This time of the year, people are often looking for wholesome, healthy eating. I like this vegetable-centric rendition of garlic noodles, which I'd call xào tỏi chay in Vietnamese, and would consider eating it any time of the year.

Now that I have a spiralizer, a gadget that originated in Japan, I'm wanting to figure out more things to do with it. If you have spiralizing suggestions, let me know!

More things to do with Daikon

• Pickled daikon and carrot (Vietnamese)
• Crispy Daikon Radish Cakes (Chinese)

Print Recipe

Garlic Mushroom Noodles

Check the main recipe post for information on the daikon noodles. This recipe has been adapted from Michelle Tam and Henry Fong’s Nom Nom Paleo Let’s Go!, published by Andrews McNeel (2022). See Notes for the stir-fry powder. Have fun!

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Vietnamese

Keyword: garlic noodle

Equipment

• Spiralizer

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons coconut aminos
• 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast flakes
• 1 ½ teaspoons Nom Nom Paleo Umami Stir-Fry Powder (see Notes)
• 1 or 2 big pinches turmeric (optional, for bright color)
• 1 ½ pound daikon radish, peeled
• Fine sea salt or kosher salt
• 4 tablespoons avocado oil or extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• 8 ounces fresh shiitake mushrooms, thinly sliced (include stems, if you like)
• 1 ½ tablespoons minced garlic
• 2 green onions, sliced on the diagonal, green and white parts separated
• 1 tablespoon water

Instructions

• Meanwhile, in a small bowl combine the coconut aminos, nutritional yeast, 1 teaspoon of the umami powder, and turmeric. Set aside.
• Fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil over high heat. Meanwhile, spiralize the daikon into spaghetti-size noodles. Set aside. Once the water is boiling, add a large pinch of salt. Submerge the spiralized daikon in the boiling water. Cook for about 1 to 2 minutes, stirring frequently, until the daikon noodles are slightly softened but still firm.
• Drain the daikon noodles in a colander and rinse well with cold water. Spread out on a dishtowel to drain completely.
• Heat a 12-inch skillet over medium high heat. When hot, add 2 tablespoons of oil. Toss in the mushrooms and add the remaining ½ teaspoon of umami stir-fry powder. Sauté for 3 minutes or until browned here and there.
• Add the remaining 2 tablespoons oil, garlic, green onion white parts, and 1 tablespoon of water (the water will help keep the garlic from burning). Cook, stirring, until the mixture is fragrant with garlickly goodness.
• Add the daikon noodles and pour in the sauce, cook for 3 to 5 minutes, or until heated through. Remove from the heat, stir in the remaining green onion, then taste and season with more salt, coconut aminos, or nutritional yeast, if necessary. Transfer to a platter or individual dishes and serve.

Notes

To make the Umami Stir-Fry Powder, Michelle’s multi-purpose seasoning inspired by her family’s homemade Chinese food, use a small food processor to blend and grind together the following: ⅔ cup dehydrated chopped green onions, 6 ½ tablespoons Diamond Crystal kosher salt, ¼ cup dried shiitake mushroom powder, 1 tablespoon garlic powder, 1 tablespoon onion powder, 1 tablespoon ground ginger, and ½ teaspoon ground white pepper. Aim for a powdered texture. Makes about ⅔ cup. Keep in an airtight container for up to 6 months.

The Umami Stir-Fry Powder recipe is sourced from Nom Nom Paleo's Let's Go (Andrews McNeel, 2022).